The House Of Hades Fanfiction
by Qwerty616120
Summary: With Percy and Annabeth separated from the quest, the other 5 must journey to the Doors of Death to meet them. But when the journey tests their trust in one another and their personal strength, and Percy and Annabeth make dangerous alliance that could make or break their quest, will the 7 be able to make it in time?
1. Chapter 1

** Hey guys! So, this is my first ever fanfiction, and I'm not really familiar with how this Fan fiction website is laid out yet, so please bear with me. This is a really short chapter because I'm probably going to update tomorrow or the day after, and I want to make sure that people like my story/writing. Anyways, I'm sorry for any OOCness or typos, hope you enjoy my story. **

** Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I do not own the Percy Jackson series. All rights belong to Rick Riordan. **

Mystery Person's POV

"The demigods are coming. And when they come, you will bring them to me. Understand?" Came the sleepy voice from deep within the cavern. A sleepy voice, but it made the hairs on the back of the boy's neck stand up.

"Why should I? I'm not doing anything for you." Spat the boy, furious.

"Not even for freedom?" Murmured Gaea, and the boy got the distinct impression that she was laughing at him. But freedom… "You've been trapped here too long, boy. Consider carefully what I offer you. You were meant for more than this."

"More than what?" Stammered the teen. He was stalling. He knew it, and Gaea knew it. What else could she being referring to, besides Tartarus?

"Mmmm…. I can see your thinking about it." Murmured Gaea, clearly considering the deal closed. "Annabeth and Percy will be here soo-"

"Wait." Interrupted the boy, only realizing a split second later that interrupting the most powerful goddess of all time might not be that intelligent. "Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson?"

"Who else? They should make this interesting, won-"

"No." Said the boy, barely able to say the word, because he knew what it meant. It meant no freedom, it meant staying here in Tartarus forever. And that thought was almost enough to make him agree. "No," He repeated, a little stronger. "I won't. Get someone else to do your dirty work."

"You seem to have decided that it's your choice. But it's not, is it? I keep you around, and the moment you're of no use to me…" Gaea trailed of, but it wouldn't take Athena to figure out what she meant. "Are you trying to tell me your no longer of any use?" Even as the words echoed around the cavern, the rocky soil began to sink down, spiraling toward the cave's dark center. Slowly at first, but fast enough for the boy to rear back in panic, tripping over his own feet in his desperation to get away.

"Go ahead, run away." Yawned the earth goddess. "But remember that you're in Tartarus. And no matter where you go, you're in my domain now."

Percy's POV

Percy was terrified. You'd think that a fall to the deepest, darkest part of the universe would take a long time, right? Wrong. It seemed like they'd only just began screaming for their lives when the ground was rushing up to meet them. It's hard to tell when you're free falling a bazillion miles an hour, but the ground looked pretty hard to Percy, and he was pretty sure that this landing wasn't going to tickle. Next to him, Annabeth was yelling something…Percy thought he heard something about going limp, but he wasn't sure. _Oh gods, Annabeth! _Realized Percy in horror _She's already exhausted and hurt. Oh Poseidon, Athena, whoever's brave enough to listen to us in this mess, please, PLEASE protect her! _Percy didn't have time to wonder if anyone had heard his prayer, though, because the ground rushed up to meet him and his world spiraled into a soupy darkness.

**So, how'd I do? (Once again, sorry for the length.) Review, Review, Review! If enough people seem to enjoy my story, I'll continue posting it online, so if you like it, tell me in reviews or PM me. Constructive criticism is welcome, but no flames. I'll try to update soon, so until next time! **


	2. Chapter 2

Jason's POV

Jason was miserable. Even though Piper insisted that Annabeth and Percy's situation wasn't his fault, he knew that it was. If you can fly, and two people fall, and you don't catch them, how is it _not _your fault? Sitting around the big oak table in lounge, though, Jason tried to hide his feelings. He glanced around the table, were everyone else was picking at their food, pretending to eat.

Piper sat to his right, beautiful as always, and when Jason looked at her she gave a brilliant smile. Her eyes betrayed her, though. They were a watery blue, as if she might cry at ay moment. Next to Piper sat Frank, who wasn't even pretending to eat. He stared dejectedly at his untouched plate of food, and hadn't talked much since Percy and Annabeth had fell. Jason couldn't help but wonder if it was because the big guy was scared that his voice would betray how close he was to tears.

Across from Frank sat Hazel, who managed to look calm for the sake of everyone else. The fact that her chair was studded with diamonds big enough to make millionaire jealous, though, revealed how upset she really was. Leo, who was next to Hazel, had pushed his food aside and was tinkering with the Archimedes sphere, and Jason thought he heard him cursing fortune cookies under his breath, but decided that he had probably heard him wrong.

And then there was Nico. He hadn't even sat down, but leaned against the wall, staring out a porthole at the passing ocean beneath them. At first Jason had wanted him to sit with them- after all, he was part of the group now- until he realized that the only two empty chairs were the chairs that Annabeth and Percy had sat in.

"Say something." Hissed Piper under her breath, startling Jason. "You're the leader now- get everyone motivated." Jason took a deep, reluctant breath, not really wanting to be the team "motivator", but knowing that Piper was right.

"I know this is hard for everyone," began Jason, very conscious of everyone looking at him. "But we can set this right. We knew someone was going to have to close the doors from the other side, anyway."

"We never thought it was going to happen this way." Muttered Hazel sadly, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"No," agreed Jason "but we can't blame ourselves that it did happen this way. We have to believe that Percy and Annabeth will make it. And I don't think that they would want us to blame ourselves over it, either."

"Percy battled a Titan and _won_. Nobody thought he could do that either." Said Nico suddenly "You guys are underestimating him, and he deserves more than that."

"Gaea's gonna wake up in a month, and when she does, we'll be waiting." Added Piper, her voice pumped full of power.

Jason watched his friends relax a little, weather from his speech or Piper's charmspeak he had no idea. As Piper's charmspeak flowed around the room, Jason felt his guilt fall away, only to be replaced by exhaustion.

"Go get some sleep." Murmured Piper gently. "Even all powerful sons of Jupiter need their rest" Jason was certain she was charmspeaking him, because he immediately stood up as if to leave the room. "Yes, mother." He yawned. "Could you work your magic on Coach Hedge?" He added suddenly. "I think he's still in his room muttering about explosives."

"I will." Promised Piper. "Now go to bed!"

…

A good night's rest would have been nice, but the gods had other plans. The moment Jason opened his eyes, he knew he was still dreaming. How did he know, you ask? He was in a sinister looking cave, with a rocky floor covered by a faint red haze. That was a pretty good indicator that he was dreaming. Not only was he in a creepy-looking cave, but he wasn't alone. Near the cave entrance was a tall boy, maybe in his late teens. 19 or 20, maybe. Jason couldn't place it, but he looked familiar.

"Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson?" Asked the boy suddenly.

"Who else?" Taunted a voice Jason recognized as Gaea. "They should make this interesting, won-"

"No." Said the boy in a shaky voice. "No." He repeated, stronger this time.

"I won't. Get someone else to do your dirty work" Jason had to admire the guy's courage- standing up to Gaea took guts.

Gaea's voice echoed around the cave, warning the man that the moment he wasn't useful, he was a goner. Then, to Jason's horror, the rocky cave bottom began to swirl toward the dark end of the cave, the end completely hidden by the red mist. The boy stumbled back in blind panic, trying to escape the cave. Dirt clung to his shoes, slowing him down, and Gaea's voice bounced around the cave, daring him to run. Jason looked down to find-_ oh my gods!_ Thought Jason, terrified _I'm sinking! I'M SINKING! _Jason grabbed wildly for the cave wall, trying desperately to find something to hold on to, but the cave wall was smooth. Unnaturally smooth. Jason cried out in panic as his head slipped into the earth and his world went black.

Jason woke up tangled in his bad sheets, shaking and sweaty, his heart racing.

He had no idea who the boy was, but he knew this: _If Gaea wants him working for her badly enough not to kill him the moment he defied her, he's dangerous. And if he works for her, he'll be hunting down Percy and Annabeth next. _


	3. Chapter 3

** I forgot to put my author's note in the last chapter, so I'm just going to cram it all in right here. I'll try to keep it short and sweet. 1****st**** of- reviews. Please review! Reviews absolutely make my day, and they keep me super motivated. So, if you like my story, review it! 2****nd****- Shout outs. I only really have one this time. **

**Hunter of Artemis 140-**** My first ever reviewer! I forgot to put this in my PM, so I'm just going to add it on now- you were one of the first fanfictions I ever read, so getting a review from you was really special. Just saying… **

** 3****rd****- Disclaimer: Obviously, I'm not Rick Riordan. Enough said. **

**Now, onto the story! **

Annabeth's POV

Annabeth struggled to sit up, feeling dizzy but thankful that she hadn't passed out. Going unconscious in Tartarus, home of the world's worst monsters couldn't be a good idea. Speaking of passing out… why hadn't she passed out? She looked around for an explanation, and found one almost immediately. The ground was soft and slightly dented where she had landed. _The ground bent to absorb the shock from my landing. _Annabeth realized. _Gaea protected us. But why would she do that unless…unless she has something worse in store for us._ Thought Annabeth grimly. Gaea wasn't exactly the helpful type, and the fact that she chose now to save their lives couldn't be a good sign. _Maybe Percy knows something about all this- oh my gods! Percy!_ Annabeth thought in panic, struggling to her knees to look around her at her surrounding, and hopefully to see her boyfriend.

She was on a rocky ledge, the floor (if you could call it a floor) consisting only of broken pieces of rock jutting out in random directions and going up and down, like a stone maze. The only difference? Parts of this "maze" were missing. Monster-shaped holes loomed ominously in the rocky outcrops, and holes were missing in the floor. A faint red mist drifted up from the holes, and when Annabeth ran her fingers though the mist, it burned. There was no noise, except far of tortured screams that seemed like they would never end.

For a moment Annabeth was near complete panic- what if Percy, who had risked everything for her, had fallen through one of the gaps in the floor? But then she heard a tired, worn groan from behind her, and she spun around so fast it made her head spin and her exhausted, beat-up body ache with pain. That seemed to disappear from her mind, though, when she saw Percy. He was lying a few feet away from her, and the ground had also cushioned his fall, and (although he was unconscious) Annabeth had never been happier to see him in one piece. She wondered briefly how Percy had managed to pass out on rock about as hard as a mattress, but answered her own question when she saw how his knees and elbows were locked. _So he didn't go limp. Oh, Seaweed brain. _Her relief at seeing him alive was short-lived, however, because a blood-curdling roar interrupted her thoughts.

Annabeth looked up to see a giant beast, half man, and half bull, dressed in burnt armor with some pieces missing, maybe the remains of the armor he had worn when he had fought in the Second Titan War. It was the Minatar.

Annabeth grabbed Riptide, which had rolled out of her boyfriend's pocket, and uncapped it, letting the bronze sword extend to its full length. She knew she was in trouble, though, when she tried to stand up. After breaking her ankle and then losing her splint in the fall, her right leg refused to support any of her weight. Collapsing back to the ground with a cry of pain, Annabeth desperately searched her mind for any sort of plan.

_I can't stand, Percy's unconscious. All I have is a sword that I'm not trained to use and a reputation for killing monsters! Oh gods, what would Athena do? Think Annabeth, think! _She commanded herself. Before any master plan to take out the minatar came to mind though, an all-to familiar voice came from behind her.

"Time to pay, daughter of Athena." Hissed the voice, and Annabeth whipped her head around to see Arachne slowly advancing toward her. The giant spider was missing two legs and dapped in her own torn silk, but defiantly healthy enough to help the minatar kill two injured demigods.

"You ruined some of my best artwork." Hissed Arachna furiously, taking another step toward Annabeth.

"You did that all on your own." Countered Annabeth, trying desperately to slow her racing heart and think of something, anything, that could possibly kill two monsters at once.

"Trying to out think me? Well, you won't trick me again." Said the spider confidentially. "I am in Tartarus. Do you know what that means, Daughter of Athena?" Arachne spat "It means _I can't be killed._" On Annabeth's other side, the minatar roared in agreement, and the poor girl felt the wind go out of her sails. _They can't be killed. I can. No matter what happens, I can't win this one._ Annabeth chocked back a sob. She wasn't usually one to give up, but after the day she'd had, faced with invincible monsters, she had earned the right to feel defeated. _Maybe, _She thought desperately, _maybe I can distract them long enough to give Percy time to wake up. Maybe he can still escape. Maybe even if I die, I can still save him._ It was a desperate hope, but at the moment, it was all Annabeth had.

"Oh yeah? I bet you thought I couldn't beat you last time, either." Challenged Annabeth, at this point willing to say anything that would keep their attention for as long as possible.

"Insolent girl." Hissed Arachne, and she continued on, calling Annabeth every rotten Greek name she could think of. (And Arachne knew quite a few rotten names!)

Behind Annabeth, Percy groaned. _Oh for god's sake Percy, be quiet._ Annabeth begged silently _I'm trying to save your life!_

Trying to draw the monster's attention away from her boyfriend, Annabeth began to crawl away from him. It was a risky move, leaving him unguarded, but in all honesty if they decided to attack she wasn't sure she'd be able to fight them off anyway. Maybe if she could get them to look away from him, they'd be so busy taunting her they'd leave him alone. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

It almost worked, too. Arachne, knowing nothing about the black-haired boy, followed her slowly, grinning in assurance of her victory. She jabbed a leg out, forcing Annabeth to roll further away, and making dots spin before her eyes. The minatar, though, was a different story all together. Having just found the demigod who had killed him twice lying defenseless in Tartarus, he was much more reluctant to leave his prize. He roared in protest, torn between his own apparent fear of Arachne and the teenage boy lying only a few feet away. Arachne turned slightly, examining the other monster with obvious distaste.

"What are you doing? Get over here and-" She broke of as her gaze landed on Percy. "Oh." She said, her voice dangerously soft. "I see." She turned back toward Annabeth, and her eyes were bright. "There're two of you, hum? Well, no matter. There's also two of us." Annabeth fought the panic rising inside her.

"Who, him?" Said Annabeth coolly, forcing every word. "Go ahead. I can't stand him. Rather him than me." She lied, reminding herself that it was for his own good. Just as she expected, Arachne hissed for the minatar to come join her, and Annabeth backed up desperately, but was forced to stop when she reached the edge of the ledge. She was trapped. Arachne grinned and raised a barbed leg, ready to finish the job, when Annabeth saw Percy stumble to his feet in the background. His eyes widened when he saw Annabeth, but before he could say a word, a new figure jumped down from a higher ledge next to him. Annabeth couldn't tell who the figure was, but he proved to be helpful when he walked up and calmly pulled out two small spheres, swirling blue orbs that he tossed at each monster. One hit the minatar, and he roared in protest as he was sucked into the orb. The whole thing reminded Annabeth of Pokemon, a show she had watched as a kid.

Arachne dodged the orb, and hissing in defiance, rushed toward the mystery man. The man stumbled back, and tripped over the uneven ground, falling of the edge of the ledge. He somehow twisted in mid-aid, catching the ledge with one hand, but just barely.

Percy ran forward and scooped up the dropped orb, and then hurtled it as hard as he could at the spider.

"No!" Cried Arachne "You will pay for-" She was cut of as the orb sucked her in, making her seem to disappear before their very eyes. It was like a magic trick- now you see her, now you don't.

Percy ran over toward Annabeth, helping her up and draping one of her arms over his shoulder so that she could stand up.

"Are you ok?" He asked, concerned. Before Annabeth could answer, she was cut of by a familiar voice.

"Help!" It was the mystery man, but his voice… _No. _Decided Annabeth_ It couldn't be him._ Percy helped her hobble over a safe distance from the edge, and then ran over to the man.

"Please! Help me!" Begged the man, and Annabeth saw that his hand was slipping. _His voice…no. It's not possible. _Percy glanced over at her as if to say "Should we trust him?" Annabeth gave the tinniest nod of her head, and Percy grabbed the man's hand, grunting as he pulled him up. The man stood up, coated in dust and grime, but there was no mistaking him.

It was Luke Castellan.

**Don don don. Like it? Hate it? Review, review, review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Time for the next chapter! Before we start though- reviews. If you are reading this chapter, **_**review it**_**. It'll take you like, five seconds. I promise you, it's super easy. :) Also, shout outs: **

**Annabeth06**- **Added me to favorites, thanks so much! **

**Disclaimer: Me: Hahaha! I own Percy Jackson and all his friends! **

**Kronos: So it was you who made him defeat me? I will destroy you! :( **

**Me: No! I lied! Rick Riordan owns all! HELP! **

Nico's POV

Nico leaned over the railing of the ship, letting the wind blow across his face. He knew he looked awful, but could you blame him? He had gotten no sleep in the last two days since Percy and Annabeth fell. The dark circles under his eyes had betrayed him earlier when he had insisted to Hazel that he had gotten plenty of sleep the night before, and his hair was getting messy enough to make even Percy gasp. He knew his friends were worried, but what was he supposed to say? _Hey guys, my dad visited me in a dream last night and warned me that Luke is in Tartarus! And guess what? It gets better! There's a chance that he might be working for Gaea! Yippee! _He knew he had advised his friends to have a little more faith in the two demigods, but he couldn't seem to take his own advice. Besides, even if he did tell them he couldn't help but wonder if they would believe him. After all, Luke was supposed to be dead, relaxing in Paradise right now. There had to be a logical explanation, but until Nico figured it out, he was determined not to give the others anything else to worry about.

"You alright?" Asked a voice from behind him, startling him out of his thoughts. He turned to find Hazel and could've kicked himself- he should've known that his sister wouldn't give up so easily. She was leaning casually against the railing, but her eyes and the diamonds clustered around her feet showed her concern.

"I'm fine." Shrugged Nico evenly. Anyone else would have been satisfied with that kind of response- either that or to scared to ask again. But Hazel would not be so easily dissuaded.

"You can tell me about it, you know. I won't laugh, I promise."

"It's nothing Hazel." He muttered. She cocked an eyebrow, clearly not satisfied, and Nico sighed loudly. _All right Nico, _He thought to himself._ How can I tell her enough to satisfy her without worrying her? _

"It's just…it's gonna be rough, you know?" He muttered- not technically a lie, just not exactly the truth. Hazel's expression softened.

"It's ok to be scared, Nico." She comforted. "We all are. And you've been through more than the rest of us, too." She added, and Nico shivered. Not only was he certain he'd be claustrophobic the rest of his life, but it made him feel incredibly useless. _I can't even escape a stupid jar- how on earth am I supposed to help defeat the most powerful goddess of all time? _Before he could voice the depressing thought, however, the ship lurched sideways. Hazel slid across the deck and Nico grabbed wildly at the railing, using the other hand to catch her hand. Pulling her back up they struggled to stand up on the slanted deck.

"What was that?" Shouted Hazel. Nico felt his draw drop as Hazel got her answer. "What on earth is _that? _Oh my gods, there's _two_ of them?!" The "them" in question were not like anything Nico had ever seen before. They had the upper bodies of men, both looking about the same age (25 maybe?), but instead of legs they had horse legs, like a centaur. Where the horses' rears should have been, there were fish tails, and they had horns made out of… were those lobster claws? Both of the creatures looked furious, and Nico noticed that one of them had a silver arrow stuck in his shoulder. There was the sound of pounding footsteps as Nico's friends rushed up to the deck to see what had climbed aboard.

"Dude…are those centaurs with horns? And tails?" Asked Leo, clearly as confused as Nico and Hazel. Nico glanced at his friends, and if the circumstances had been any different, would have laughed at their expressions. Unfortunately for the demigods the creatures clearly didn't like being mistaken for mutated centaurs.

"Centaurs? Did that…that _thing_ just call me a lowly centaur?!" Cried the one without the arrow injury, his lobster horns snapping angrily. Leo, meanwhile, looked shocked.

"Thing? Me? Hey Piper, tell your mom to get these guys some mirrors!" Retorted Leo indignantly, rubbing some grease off his forehead.

"Centaur," snorted the creature indignantly, luckily not seeming to catch Leo's comment. "We are obviously Ichthyocentaurs! Demigods these days!"

"Right," muttered Jason "'cuz that's common knowledge."

"Ichy- Icytho- um, what are you exactly?" Asked Piper politely.

"Ichthyocentaurs! Sons on Poseidon? Sea-gods?" Prompted the uninjured ichthyocentaur, clearly annoyed at his lack of fame.

"Whoa, hold up, rewind" Said Leo. "You're Percy's half brothers? Cool, then you could totally help us!"

"Percy? Um, Aphros, do you know of a Percy?" Asked the sea-god, turning to his injured twin.

"Aphros knows no Percy." Shrugged Aphros, struggling to speak with his broken English.

"You don't know Percy? But you're like, bros!" Cried Leo. "Where do you people- uh, ichthyocentaurs live? Under rocks?" Now Aphros looked really confused.

"Aphros lives under rock, yes."

"This is pointless." Hissed Aphros' twin. "We just need the girl, and we'll be on our way."

"What girl?" asked Frank, taking a half step toward Hazel.

"Bythos, Aphros smell girl below decks." Hissed Aphros, taking a step toward the doorway that led below decks- the same door that the demigods happened to be standing in front of.

"What girl? We're all up here- well, except Coach Hedge, he's been charmspoken to sleep, but I-"

"The _girl_ not the _goat_!" Cried Bythos. "Move demigods. We're going below decks to find that filthy little-"

Bythos continued on, calling the offending girl every name he could think of or make up. Nico ignored him though, looking to Jason. Using facial expressions and hand signals, they had their own silent conversation:

_Jason: I don't like the idea of them going through our stuff. _

_Nico: Me either, but the way their going on, they'd probably fight to get below decks. Someone could get hurt. And if we have a stowaway, shouldn't we let them have her? _

_Jason: I don't know…what if we don't have a stowaway at all? Then we would've let them dig through our ship for nothing! _

_Nico: It's your call, man. _

Jason hesitated uncertainly, but then nodded.

"Sorry guys, but we can't just let you tear apart our ship." Said Jason, and Nico couldn't help but admire how firm his voice was even though Nico knew how scared he was about making the right choice. Bythos and Aphros clearly didn't like it, though.

"If you won't allow us in, we'll force our way in!" And with a slightly crazy sounding war scream, the two ichthyocentaurs charged.

The seven demigods split up- Piper, Jason, and Hazel rushed Bythos, while Nico, Leo, and Frank attacked Aphros. Leo went fire-man mode, flames dancing up his arms and through his curly hair, and Frank's body shrunk until he was a eagle that gave a shrill shriek, talons extended to tear Aphros apart. Nico, sadly lacking in shape shifting, fire breathing abilities, simply pulled his midnight black sword and joined the charge. Aphros lowered his head and used his lobster-horns to clip Frank's wings, causing him to spiral into the side of the ship. Leo wrapped his flaming hands around the horn, making the lobster claw smoke. Aphros cried out in pain and jerked his head back, but Leo refused to let go, so as Aphros' head jerked up to it's full height almost seven feet of the ground, Leo went up with him.

"Somebody…help…me!" Cried Leo, struggling to speak as Aphros shook his head, trying to shake him off. Nico lifted his sword and rushed toward Aphros, and Frank dizzily stood up (back in human form) and took an unsteady step toward the ichthyocentaur. Before Frank or Nico could do anything, though, the lobster horn broke of, and Leo crashed down, landing right on top on Frank. With both demigods out of the action, Aphros turned toward Nico.

"Aphros is furious!" Cried Aphros, his head tilted to the side with his remaining horn.

"I'll bet." Muttered Nico. Aphros jabbed his remaining horn at Nico, which he deflected with his sword, making sparks fly. Nico stumbled back from the shock of the blow. As Nico stumbled back, Aphros stuck a hoof out and Nico fell flat on his back, hitting his head hard against the mast. As the demigod's world spun and he struggled to get his breath back, Aphros was already gloating.

"Aphros always wins! Sons of Hades," He sneered, "the moment earth gone, they cannot fight good!" _Earth! That's why I can't fight well! I'm in the sky- I'm out of my home turf. Stupid godly heritage- naturally I get stuck with a dad who deals with death and dirt._ _Wait a minute…death! I may be in the sky, but I can still control any pile of bones…gods, I'm creepy. _As Aphros continued gloating, Nico mentally searched the ship, feeling for all the dead rats and other assorted vermin and quietly raising them from the dead, like little rat zombies. Then, he called his little minions, summoning them to the deck.

The door rattled, and Aphros paused his speech, looking in confusion at the door. Nico jumped up. His sword had skidded to the other side of the deck in his fall, but he didn't care. His army was coming- time to put these sea gods in their place. The door creaked open, and…one measly rat zombie crawled out. For a moment Aphros froze, staring in surprise at Nico's fighting force of one, and then the moment ended and the god exploded into laughter.

"You tried to defeat Aphros with rat?" Aphros laughed, bend over in hysterias. Nico felt like a deflating balloon, and a glance around the deck showed that the fight wasn't going well. Bythos was slowly knocking the other demigods back, and Leo and Frank were still down for the count. Suddenly, Aphros stopped laughing. His expression went from amused to shock to…afraid? Nico spun around to see a wave of rats tumbling in through the door, all with razor sharp teeth. The sea gods reared back in panic, fighting against bones that simply reassembled when destroyed. Soon the sea gods were overwhelmed, and turned and fled.

A cry of victory went up around the ship, but Nico was too exhausted to join in. He was sure he would have passed out, but one important question kept preying on his mind: _Where is the stowaway they were looking for, and who is she?_

**Review, review, review! **


	5. Chapter 5

Time for another chapter! We get to hear Luke's story in this one- finally! :) Important notices- 1) Review! Come on, guys!

2) From now on, I will be putting a question at the bottom of every chapter, and you can leave your answer in the reviews. Give me a creative answer, you get a shout out, or (for the really special, one in a million questions) a preview of the next chapter! :)

3) How do you do the line break things? Someone please PM me and tell me!

4) Disclaimer- Do I even need this? I'm not Mr. Rick, and trust me, I never will be.

Now, Story time!

Percy's POV

Percy had seen a lot in his sixteen years- Greek gods, monsters, and a camp full of demigods tend to make you kind of immune to surprises- but dead demigod heroes always, _always_ stayed dead. (With the exception of Hazel, of course.) But now Luke defied that universal law, as real as any one else. He had lead them back to a cave, and it was clear he'd been living there for a while. A makeshift bed and other assorted monster-fighting weapons (including the little blue orbs) lay scattered around the room. Scrap metal was nailed together to make the cave earth-free, so that Gaea couldn't eavesdrop. It wasn't much, but a place like this in Tartarus was like Heaven.

"I know your both probably confused, but we should fix you guys up before I answer any questions." Muttered Luke, digging through an old tattered bag for ambrosia and nectar. Percy waited for Annabeth to object- after all she had just discovered that her dead friend wasn't as dead as everyone had thought- but she stayed silent, revealing just how shocked she really was. Luke turned around, triumphantly holding up a bag of slightly squashed looking ambrosia and a dented canteen of nectar.

"Here you go." He said, handing Annabeth a square of ambrosia. She accepted it, but Percy couldn't help but notice that her hand was shaking slightly. Luke turned to Percy uncertainly and held up a square of ambrosia.

"Thanks man." Muttered Percy hoarsely, accepting the medicine gratefully. He ate the whole thing in one bite, feeling his cuts and bruised healing immediately. Even his headache disappeared in the taste of warm chocolate chip cookies. Luke dug back though his bag and pulled out some plaster of Paris and knelt by Annabeth, who had collapsed from exhaustion the moment they were in the cave. Percy, who was seated on her other side, holding one of her hands, as much to comfort him as to comfort her, watched as Luke used the plaster to make a cast on Annabeth's ankle.

"We'll use the nectar to heal that ankle later," explained Luke "But after all that ambrosia you just ate, we should probably wait a while." Annabeth still remained silent, just giving the tinniest nod of her head in response. Percy took a deep breath, knowing he was going to have to be the one to do the talking this time.

"Hey, uh, Luke? It's grate to see you and all, but um, aren't you supposed to be, you know,-"

"Dead?" He asked. "Yeah, but- well, I better start from the beginning." Percy nodded.

"Beginning would be good." He agreed. Luke took a deep breath, and then plunged into his story.

"When I died, I went to Hades for my trial like everyone else. Although the judges weren't my favorite people, they couldn't condemn me after I made the ultimate sacrifice. They told me paradise was waiting, but right when they were grabbing my pass, Nemesis walked in. Trust a godly being to ruin everything, huh?" He asked, giving a short, humorless laugh. "She said that Kronos had been betrayed be his number one servant, and, therefore, she owed him a chance at revenge. But, since Kronos was no longer, um, conscience, she said I should share his fate. Apparently, that was 'only fair.' The judges were about to veto her request, but then someone else supported her. Gaea. Kronos would have won if not for me, so obviously the earth mother wanted me in Tartarus. The judges, terrified of her, sentenced me to eternity in Tartarus _unless_ I could prove that I was 100% hero and didn't deserve to be here forever."

"At first I thought I was lucky that the judges had given me that much with Gaea there. Then I realized the catch- I'm in Tartarus. There isn't a chance for me to prove that I'm a hero, because I can't _do_ anything."

"You saved us." Percy pointed out, trying to contain his fury. He wasn't even mad at the judges or Gaea- he was mad at himself. _Why had I assumed that Luke would go straight to Paradise? I should've checked, or used to wish from the gods last summer to cover that! _

"It's not enough. It has to be something big. It's hopeless." Said Luke, and Percy felt his heart sink. All the monsters down here were down here because they'd already been defeated. Luke was right- it _was_ hopeless.

"No!" Cried Annabeth suddenly, surprising both boys. "No, Luke. You are _not_ staying down here after everything you've done. Come with us! We're trying to close the Doors of Death. Maybe on our way there you might get your chance to prove yourself!" Luke's eyes widened, but not with happiness. More like…panic.

"No Annabeth. Thanks, but you…you don't want me on your quest. Bad idea. Trust me." He stammered. Percy narrowed his eyes. Why wouldn't he jump at this opportunity?

"You're coming." Said Annabeth firmly. "And there's nothing you can say to change my mind."

"Annabeth…" Percy started, but she spun on him, furious.

"Oh no! Don't you start on me! Not after everything he did for us last summer!" She cried, as she stumbled to her feet and stalked just outside the cave. Not far enough to attract monsters, but far enough to get away from the sons of Hermes and Poseidon.

"I'll talk to her." Muttered Luke, standing up, but Percy stood up, too.

"No, let me, Luke." He interrupted. Percy knew at one point Luke had known Annabeth better than him, but that was a long time ago. Luke looked like he wanted to argue, but then hesitated.

"Are you two a…'thing' now?" He asked uncertainly. Percy just nodded. Luke sat down with a thump.

"Go ahead." He muttered, not looking at him. Percy walked outside and sat down next to Annabeth.

"Wise Girl? You Ok?" He asked gently.

"Go away, Percy." She muttered, choking back a sob.

"It's gonna be ok," her boyfriend assured her, trying to believe his own words.

"Sure," She said sarcastically. "Luke's in the worst place on earth and won't accept our help. Everything's just dandy!" Percy sighed, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"Annabeth, there's something Luke's not telling us, and it's probably the same reason he won't come with us." He reasoned. "If- I mean, when- we defeat Gaea, we can ask the gods to set him free." He said, not adding that is they _didn't_ defeat the earth goddess, it wouldn't matter if Luke was in Tartarus or not.

"You don't get it, do you?" She cried. "What the gods offered you last summer was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Chances are, they won't do that again!" Percy was silent for a moment.

"We _have_ to help him, Percy." She said more quietly when he didn't respond. "Even _if_ he's not telling us everything." Neither of them said it, but they were both thinking it: _Last time Luke was keeping secrets, he almost helped the god of time take over Manhattan. _

Luke's POV

Luke felt like he was going to having a heart attack. Percy and Annabeth were here, just like Gaea said they would be, and even worse, they wanted to help him. _Gaea is after me! Taking me will only hurt you…if only they knew the whole story… _Luke's silent plea would probably never go answered, though, because he couldn't tell them the entire story. The thing is, Nemesis hadn't sentenced him. The judges had. Kronos had been blasted into tinny pieces of titan guts, but because he hadn't been in full form when he had been defeated, a small part of him was still in Luke. A small part that hadn't been expelled at the end of the war. That small part was constantly trying to regain control, and to prevent the danger if it ever _did_ regain control, Luke was sent to Tartarus. Talk about unfair. But the worst part was that little part was still there, trying to influence his actions and decisions. It was murmuring to him now. _Take Gaea's offer, Luke. We could escape this injustice the gods have forced upon us. Is this how they treat their savior? Phfft, we could join Gaea and destroy them once and for all! __No, _Luke argued back. _I won't let you use my anger against me again, and I will NEVER betray Annabeth and Percy again!_ The voice became silent, but Luke knew it was temporary. His biggest fear? He feared going insane. It would be easy enough, with a voice in your head, arguing with yourself 24/7, always guarding your own thoughts. If he ever did lose control…no. He couldn't risk his friend's lives like that, not again. He glanced toward the cave entrance, where his friends were.

"…don't get it, do you?…once-in-a-lifetime…" Came Annabeth's angry voice. Luke watched silently as Percy mumbled something back to her, then leaned in as they shared a kiss, and felt his heart ache. It was hard not to blame Percy, who had been considered an enemy not to long ago. It was like, _Hey! I'm Percy Jackson! We could be great friends, but I'm totally unsympathetic about your awful dad who has half a million kids and never cared about you! _Luke took a deep breath and counted to ten. His anger towards the gods was surfacing again, and he had to learn to control it or Kronos could take advantage of it.

"You're coming with us." Stated Annabeth's voice firmly, leaving no room for argument. Luke was jerked out of his thoughts to see Percy and Annabeth had reentered the cave and were standing before him. Luke opened his mouth to argue, but Annabeth cut him of.

"No buts. You are coming if I have to drag you kicking and screaming." Her gray eyes were ablaze with determination, and she clearly meant every word. _Oh, gods. _Thought Luke desperately. _How do I get out of this one?_

Ok, so Luke's dilemma is revealed! This chapter was very dramatic and mental, no action, sorry, but it was absolutely necessary for the plot line. There will be action in the next chapter, promise. :) Also, do we want Percabeth? Tell me in the reviews or PM me, let me know!

Reviewer's Question: If you could be a demigod, who would your godly parent be, and why? I'd want Athena or Zeus 'cuz getting hundreds on everything in school or flying would be pretty cool. :) Tell me yours in the reviews!

Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6

I'm back! :) Time for the next chapter! Ok, lets get a few things out of the way first: 1) Review, review, review! If you like it or hate it, tell me! 2) Shout outs:

**ParadoxalPaladin****- I wish I had thought of her! :) Hestia's great, isn't she? But hot coco won't do me much good, it's pretty warm year-round where I live. :( **

**Annabeth06****- Hard to hate the goddess of wisdom. ;) **

**Hunter of Artemis****- Two of my favorites! :) **

**3) Someone please PM me and tell me how to do the line breaks! 4) Disclaimer: If I were RR, why would I be writing a **_**fan fiction**_**? Exactly. **

**Now, Story time! **

Leo

Saying Leo was ticked of would be the understatement of the century. A stowaway? On _his_ ship? Not much made Leo mad, but those 2 ichy-whatevers had crossed the line. Jason wasn't sure that they were all clear though, so here they were, spread out over the ship, trying to find this "stowaway." _As if we wouldn't have noticed a big, fierce monster sneak on to our ship. On to MY ship! _Leo grumbled mentally, sliding another crate packed with bandages and ambrosia over to examine the space behind it for a hidden passenger. He looked down the storage room- still almost 20 more crates to go. _I could be doing other things, but nope. I wonder if I really am wasting my time with this incredibly boring task, or does my ADHD make it seem worse then it really is? Stupid ADHD…_ Leo was about to move the crate back into place when he noticed something.

A gleam of silver reflected faintly from the floor, pushed back far against the wall and in the shadows. Leo bent down and picked up a…silver arrow. Chills shot down Leo's back as he remembered the sea gods they had just fought- one of them had had a silver arrow stuck in his shoulder. _Oh my gods. We do have a stowaway. _Searching the storage area no longer seemed like a waste of time, but a sinister job for a fierce demigod. _I better go find a fierce demigod! _Thought Leo, before realizing that _duh. I know how to fight. I can do this. _Still, for a little extra help, Leo reached into a crate and pulled out the first thing his hand touched. In the faint light, it was hard to tell exactly what he had grabbed, but hopefully it was a dangerous weapon.

Leo softly edged his way down the long hall, his eyes making long swoops over the stacked crates.

"Come out, come out where ever you are." He muttered softly, struggling to hear any sound that might give the stowaway away, like the sound of breathing. He wanted to light his hand on fire to see better, but he didn't want to accidentally catch a wooden crate on fire.

Suddenly he froze. He had that somebody's-watching-me feeling. He struggled to pinpoint it, and…

"AHHHHHHHH!" Came a fierce battle cry from behind Leo, scaring him half to death. He stumbled forward as something slammed into his back. Spinning around, Leo abandoned the caution about the crates and let his hand be engulfed in a ball of red-hot flames. The fire cast a ghostly light on everything and revealed the enemy to be…gone.

"Where-" Leo started, but was cut of by the enemy slamming into him again. He spun around and swung his crate-picked weapon at the stowaway blindly, trying to regain his balance. Unluckily for Leo, his "dangerous weapon" turned out to be one of Annabeth's old Architecture books, _Building Basics. _He swung the book anyway, and felt his arm quiver with the force of the impact as _Building Basics_ slammed into his target. In a flash of his firelight, he saw a flash of black hair and dark, menacing eyes. _What is this thing?_ Though Leo wildly as the creature gave a high-pitched cry of pain from being hit with the book. Leo almost felt sorry for it- reading a book this big was enough to make anyone cry, but being hit with it had to really hurt. His pity evaporated as the enemy flung-was that flour?-at his face, blinding him. Leo, unable to see a thing, cried out as the enemy lunged forward and bit down _hard_ on his arm. The demigod made his flaming hand into a fist and punched out randomly, praying that it would find its mark and not a nearby flammable crate.

For once, the gods must have been in a good mood, because nothing caught fire. He did, however, feel a small foot stomp down on his own.

"You stepped on my foot?!" Cried Leo. "Oh, it's on, you filthy little-"

"Owww" moaned a tiny voice, followed by a thump as Leo's fist finally found it's mark. Leo let his fire slowly fade down, leaving just enough light for him to see by, as he dropped the architecture book and wiped the flour out of his eyes. He raised his hand higher to see the monster and felt his heart nearly stop. _Oh my gods…what have I done? _

The "monster" Leo had so bravely defeated wasn't a monster at all, but a little girl. She was lying unconscious against the crate Leo had slammed her into, slumped down in a heap at his feet. He quickly dropped to his knees, desperately praying that he hadn't hurt her. Her long, black hair was braided with a silver bow and her olive colored skin looked pale in the harsh light. She couldn't have been older than 3 or 4.

Thankfully, aside from her scorched sleeves were she had tried to deflect his fist and a red mark where the book had hit her, she seemed fine. She wasn't bleeding or burned, but Leo still felt a wave of guilt wash over him. _I beat up a little girl. What kind of hero am I? _He picked her up and began to walk out of the room, wondering how he would explain this to the others.

The others were gathered in the lounge already when Leo paused out side the door, letting their voices float to him.

"…no one. Must have been a mistake." Came Jason's voice, closely followed by muttered agreements. Leo gulped and walked into the room, caring the little girl as gently as he could in his callused hands.

For a moment a muted shock greeted his entrance. Then, everyone spoke at once.

"Leo, is that-"

"Who did-"

"A stowaway!"

One shaky voice rose above the rest.

"Bianca?" Stammered Nico, running forward to the girl. "Oh gods, it's my sister!" He cried, grabbing the girl from Leo.

"You have a little sister?" Gasped Leo, feeling awful. Of course she was Nico's sister- the family resemblance was clear as day.

"I thought Bianca was older than you and, um, dead." Protested Hazel, looking confused.

"She was my older sister, but she chose rebirth." Explained Nico in a shaky voice. "She probably doesn't remember anything." As if awoken by her brother's words, Bianca moaned and stirred, her dark eyes opening and full of fear.

"Lemme go." Demanded Bianca, and despite her obvious fear, her voice was barely shaking. Nico gently placed her on her feet, his face white as a ghost. Looking at his sister, he probably felt like he was looking at a ghost. Bianca's dark eyes swept the room and her strength seemed to deflate as she realized how out matched she was. She even let out a small whimper of fear when her eyes fell on Leo- you can bet than made him feel really good.

"We won't hurt you." Assured Piper. Coming from anyone else, Bianca probably wouldn't have believed them, but Piper's voice was pumped full of power, and Bianca immediately relaxed. Piper walked over and picked her up, glancing over at Nico.

"I'm going to put her in my room so that she can get some sleep. The poor thing looks exhausted." Nico gave a tight nod of his head, obviously unhappy with letting Bianca out of his sight, but unable to argue since she did look tiered. As Piper left, Jason turned to Nico.

"How old is she?" He asked. Nico shrugged, staring at the door.

"She died 3years ago. If she was reborn immediately, She'd be 3 years old." He offered after a minute, his voice barely audible. Leo gulped.

"Look, man, I'm sorry. I swear, I couldn't see her in the dark." He muttered, feeling guilty beyond description. Nico didn't say a word. Leo almost wished he would yell at him, say _something_. But Nico remained silent and still as a statue. Then, suddenly, Nico turned on Leo like a bomb suddenly exploding.

"How could you?! She's only 3!" He yelled, lunging at Leo. Leo probably would have been crushed if Jason hadn't interfered.

"Nico! Calm down! She's ok!" He yelled, grabbing Nico by the shoulders and pulling him back. Nico glared daggers at Leo, and if looks could kill, Leo would have dropped dead then and there. He spun on his heels and stormed out of the room. Frank and Hazel immediately ran after him, to make sure he didn't do anything rash.

"Jason, man, I swear…" Chocked out Leo, but Jason just gave him a sad look and walked out of the room, leaving him all alone. Leo had never had a home to be homesick for, but right then, he wished he could be anywhere but on this quest, where all he seemed to do was mess up.

**Awww, poor Leo. Don't worry, things get better for him. Sorry it was so OOC, my Leo isn't very good. :( **

**Reviewer's Question:**** Would you rather be a Greek demigod or a Roman Demigod, and why? I'd want to be Greek, because they seem to have more fun. :) **

**Until next time! **


	7. Chapter 7 part 1

** Hola! I'm back! This chapter is divided into 2 parts, so I'll be posting part 2 later on this week, hopefully. I know this Chapter should be from Percy/Annabeth's POV, but RR doesn't always go in order, and this chapter is important, so…yeah, anyways, Shout outs: **

**Percabeth4ever****- Thank you so much for the cookies! They were delicious :-) Can I just say that you're review was probably the nicest I've ever gotten? For real, it just made my day. And you're right, Bianca is very important, but I'm not going to spoil the plot. :-) **

**Disclaimer: Reader: Are you Rick Riordan? **

**Me: What do you think?**

**Reader: No. Absolutely not. **

**Me: Gee, thanks. Sadly, you're right. :( I don't own anything. **

Frank's POV

Frank wasn't sure why he was on this quest. Leo was the engineer, Nico was the guide, Piper was the negotiator, Jason was the leader, Hazel was the warrior, and even Coach Hedge could be helpful in a pinch. Frank could turn into a stupid animal. People hunted animals as a _sport_. Who was ever gonna take him seriously in a fight? Frank hadn't had this secret misgiving about his gift for long, but it was there now, and Frank didn't think it would ever go away.

"Oh Hades!" Cursed Leo suddenly, throwing his screwdriver down and letting it clatter against the Lounge floor. At first Frank assumed Nico had walked in- the two hadn't made up yet- but when he looked around the room Frank and Leo were still alone. Frank cleared his throat nervously. He knew he should ask Leo what was wrong, but that kid scared him. Anyone who could make fire roll across their hands effortlessly had never been considered good to Frank, but, reminding himself that Hazel had his driftwood, he gathered his courage and-

"I'll never fix this stupid thing!" was beat to it by Leo. It took Frank a moment to realize that Leo was referring to a bluish sphere sitting of the table. It looked like Leo was trying to arrange the patterns coating the outsides a certain way, but if he was, he obviously didn't know what pattern he was supposed to be forming.

"I'm missing the guide!" Moaned Leo, collapsing back into his chair. Frank looked at the scroll on the table that looked a lot like a guide of some sort to him, and wondered if Leo was going crazy.

"Er, Leo, isn't that scroll a guide?" He asked. Leo looked at him like he must be stupid.

"Sure, on how to _build_ a sphere. Now how to _operate_ it, though." He explained "There's a page missing, and it has the activation code on it. To start up the sphere, I need that code. I did the math- without that code, there's almost one million different codes it could be, if not more. It could take me years to figure it out, and we could need this weapon to defeat Gaea."

"Oh." Said Frank. Leo had explained how powerful the sphere was when they'd found it- it was easy to see why Leo was frustrated. "Do you have any idea where it could be?"

"No. A single page could be anywhere, or even destroyed." Groaned Leo, putting his head in his hands. Frank hesitated. Leo hadn't been himself since Annabeth and Percy fell, and maybe the recovery of this last page would help him come around. On the other hand, they couldn't waste time trying to track down a page that could be anywhere. Jason could fly, so it would be easy for him to temporarily leave the group and search for it, but they needed a leader. That only left Frank as the only other one who could fly. He tried to come up with a reason for the quest to need him, but his fears resurfaced and he couldn't think of one.

"I'll go." Frank said suddenly. Leo looked up in shock.

"You'll what?"

"I'll go find the page." He said.

"Frank, it could be anywhere." Objected Leo, but a hopeful light had returned to his eyes. _The quest can spare me. We need an engineer who can focus. It's the least I could do._ Thought Frank, steeling himself for the task ahead.

"Cover for me, ok?" He didn't hear Leo's answer. He transformed into a blue jay and was gone.

Two hours later, Frank realized how rash he had been. He had flown back to Rome and turned into a bloodhound and searched up and down for the missing page, but eventually had to admit he had no idea where the page was. He was close to giving up when the impossible happened.

"Lost, little doggy?" Said a hard voice. Frank jerked his head back to see a large man with a camo soldier's uniform on and dark sunglasses. He radiated power and since Frank was still in dog form and had to look up, he looked all the more intimidating.

"Dad?" Asked Frank in shock as he transformed back into human form.

"No, Santa Claus." Snorted Mars sarcastically. "Of course it's your dad!"

"I thought you weren't supposed to talk to me."

"I can steer you in the right direction, can't I? Just don't go telling people about this. Can't have them thinking I'm soft or anything." Mars said, idly polishing his shotgun. Frank waited, but Mars remained silent.

"Uh, you think you could help me out now?" Prompted Frank after a lengthy silence.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I forgot how impatient you mortals could be. 5263." Frank was sure he'd heard him wrong.

"5263? What's that supposed to mean?" Mars looked at Frank like he must be stupid.

"No kid of mine could be this dense." Cried Mars in disbelief. "I can't write it out for you in silver letters, kid! Then everything you do counts for 'nuthin!"

"Can you please tell me more than 5263 though?" Asked Frank through clenched teeth. He hated begging his dad for anything, but he swallowed his pride. This could be important.

"Fine." Groaned his dad. "One more thing- Abditus."

"Secret." Translated Frank. "That's Latin for secret, or hidden. But how does that help me?"

"That's for you to figure out." And with that, Mars was gone in a flash of red smoke, leaving Frank more confused then he'd been before.

"Abditus…stupid, no help at all." Muttered Frank darkly under his breath as he glanced at the sandwiches a local café offered for lunch. He didn't know how he'd pay for lunch- he was broke- but right now he figured he had bigger fish to fry. He muttered some Latin curses under his breath that would make any horse cringe as he examined a pamphlet with a map on it he had grabbed from a nearby vendor. The map only showed tourist spots, and was zero help to Frank.

"Abditus?" Asked an ancient voice from behind Frank. He turned around to see an elderly lady sitting in the booth behind him.

"Why would you want to go to Abditus Island?" She asked, looking horrified.

"I didn't say anything about an island…wait there's an island called Abditus Island?" Asked Frank incredulously. "Where is it?"

"Why would you care? That place is awful! Once, my niece Bob,-"

"You have a niece named Bob?" Interrupted Frank.

"Yes." Said the woman, not seeming to find anything strange about that.

"Ok-ay then." Said Frank.

"Anyways, Bob went there looking for a turkey sandwich, and found jeep car keys! It's the funniest story…" Rattled on the women, showing no intention of stopping her incredibly long, boring story about the relationship between jeeps and turkey sandwiches. _Man, the things demigods are asked to endure!_ Thought Frank as he struggled not to yawn.

"Ma'am?" Interrupted Frank when he could finally take no more. "Can you please tell me where Abditus Island is now?"

"Oh, yes. It's just south of the docks near here." She said, before continuing her story. Frank slowly slipped out of his seat, inching away from the lady. She didn't seem to notice, so he got up and ran away as fast as he could from the old lady and her crazy stories about her niece, Bob.

_How did I miss this place?_ It was a reasonable question. The island was huge, and right of the coast. In bird form, Frank circled over the spot. Landing on the island, he changed back into human form and looked around. At first he saw nothing of significance. The island was pretty enough, with plenty of green trees and white powdery beaches, but nothing screamed important or evil. That was, until he saw the dark, looking cave.

"Well, that looks about right." Muttered Frank as he picked his way up to the cave. At the entrance, a high-pitched British woman's voice like the one programmed into every ATM in America asked Frank for a password. A holographic keypad appeared. For a moment Frank just started at it- the password could be anything. But then he remembered something his dad had said. What had the numbers been? 2536? No, 5263. _Thanks dad, _thought Frank as he entered the number into the pad and watched it disappear.

"Thank you! Have a nice day! Chances are, you won't come out!" Said the British voice cheerfully. Frank walked into the cave slowly, crinkling his nose at the clean hospital smell that filled the cave. The walls were a metallic white color that seemed to glow in the harsh fluorescent light. Very evil.

"…afraid she escaped." Came a shaky voice. Who ever it was, they sounded terrified.

"She what?" Asked a sleepy voice. Frank froze as he recognized the second voice to be Gaea's.

"I give you the simple task to get Bianca, and you _fail_?" Asked Gaea, her voice dangerous. _Bianca…oh my gods. Gaea wants Bianca! Why would she want a little girl?_

Frank stumbled back in shock and bumped into the wall, making a large echoing noise. The voices stopped abruptly, and the door creaked open. Frank found himself looking into the muddy face of Gaea.

Cliffy! ;-) Reviewers Question: Ok, so you all know April Fools is coming up in a week or so. What is the best April Fools joke you've ever pulled?

** Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 7 part 2

Hi everyone! Time for part 2! The next chapter will be back to Percy and Annabeth, don't worry. :) Shout outs:

**Guest****- All in good time. ;) **

**danfle3-**** Yeah, I probably will. Frank will defiantly continue to get his own POVs, though, because I find that many fanfic authors kind of forget about him. :( **

**Thanks to everyone else who has reviewed any chapter, your support keeps me going! :) **

**Disclaimer: Percy: Tartarus?! Really?! Listen, buddy, Riptide has your name on it right now, so- **

**Me: I'm not Rick. **

**Percy: Oh. So you don't own anything? **

**Me: Nope, sorry. I think Rick lives in Texas… **

**Percy: I'm off to Texas! **

Frank's POV

_Start running. No, fly! Dang it, FLY AWAY! _Frank's body, however, seemed immune to his mental commands. Gaea smiled, a scary sight.

"What are you doing out here, Frank? Get inside, where you belong." She murmured sleepily, but despite her calm exterior, her voice had a dangerous iron edge to it. Frank obeyed and entered the room.

Even though the halls had been hospital- clean, this room was pure earth. The walls, floor, ceiling- all of it was made of dirt. The ichthyocentaurs that had attacked the Argo 2 were cowering in a corner. _So that's who Gaea was scolding. She sent them to kidnap Bianca and they failed!_ Frank realized with a start. The door slammed shut, casting the room in a muddy darkness. Frank hated to admit it, but at this point, he was pretty scared. He was in a room full of dirt… with Gaea… in the dark. Only a fool would have been unafraid.

"N-n-no, please, patron, mercy, please-" Whimpered one of the ichthyocentaurs from the corner. Gaea didn't even bother to respond. When Frank looked over (in cat form, to enable him to see in the dark.) the two sea gods were gone, swallowed by the earth itself. Forget scared, Frank was terrified. Gaea turned to him, now, moving as sluggishly as any sleepwalker. It wouldn't take Athena, though, to know that she could probably move as fast as lightning if it came to that. Frank prayed it wouldn't come to that.

"Frank Zhang, what should I do with you?" She asked softly. "I could keep you- you are a male demigod, you could help me rise. Or I could just kill you now." Frank remained silent. He was scared that if he spoke, his voice would shake.

"Or," She added "You could help me in return for a friend's life."

"What friend's life?" Blurted Frank. Gaea smiled like she was glad he'd asked.

"One day soon, a friend of yours will be fatally injured." Gaea tossed a small brown bag to Frank's feet. "Ordinary ambrosia and nectar will be useless, but this medicine I'm offering you would save their life. All I'm asking in return is for you to hand over Bianca." Frank felt his mouth go dry.

"Why do you want Bianca so badly?" He asked hesitantly.

"She stole something from me." Snarled Gaea, an edge of anger in her voice. "Something I need back. That little huntress should have never been reborn!" _Whatever Bianca stole, Gaea wants it badly. What could an all powerful earth goddess want? _

"Do we have a deal?" Asked Gaea. Frank hesitated, but gave his answer with a firm voice.

"No. Nico is part of our quest, and Bianca is his sister. Keep your crummy medicine- we're all healthy, we don't need it." He said with finality. Gaea's dark laugh echoed around the room.

"You won't live to regret dooming your friends, Zhang." And she lunged for him. Frank jerked back, but his feet stuck to the earth. Gaea's finger's closed around his throat and his skin burned where she touched him.

"Goodbye, Frank." She hissed as her fingers started to tighten. Frank struggled to breath as black dots swam across his line of vision. _She's toying with me. _He thought, but could barely comprehend it because his world was going fuzzy. _I'm going to die here._

Suddenly, cold light bathed the room as the door was kicked open. Frank could imagine the newcomer's surprise at seeing a powerful earth goddess strangling an ordinary looking tabby cat. Apparently, Gaea wasn't expecting the newcomer though, because she dropped Frank in surprise. Frank lay limp on the dirty floor, gasping for breath. The newcomer scooped Frank up and ran from the room, making the best possible use of Gaea's surprise.

"AHHHHHH!" Came the wordless scream of rage. The scream was furious, and inhuman. It came from Gaea, and she obviously wasn't happy. Frank blinked up at his savior to find a girl with a vaguely Mediterranean face, complete with electric blue eyes and choppy black hair. Her eyeliner-rimmed eyes were wide with terror as she ran for her life. As she burst onto the beach, she suddenly stopped. Her feet were stuck to the earth, and she couldn't move.

"Fly!" She screeched, and then threw Frank as high as she could in the air. Frank's first thought was: _Is this girl crazy? Cats can't fly! _Then he realized she must somehow know about his shape sifting abilities and quickly changed into a large eagle. Giving a couple swift flaps of his wings he circled around.

The girl was sinking in the mud, and although Frank knew he should fly away, he couldn't just leave her to the mercy of Gaea. He flew up high and then, tucking his wings against his side, he dove down towards the girl. Extending his talons, he firmly grasped her arms and used his momentum to pull her free. Flapping his wings, he flew up, causing the girl to cry out as his talons cut her arms. Frank was sorry he'd hurt her, but there wasn't much he could do. It was much harder to carry a 15-year-old girl than he'd thought it'd be.

"AHHH! PUT ME DOWN!" She screamed in panic, thrashing around in a way that wasn't helping. Frank wanted to scream for her to shut up while he saved her life, but it's hard to sound mad when you have a beak, so he stayed silent. The girl was still screaming, and showed no sign of stopping, when Frank spotted a dot in the distance. The Argo 2.

Nico's POV

Something was up, and Nico knew it. For the past four hours, Leo had found all these different ways to delay their journey and keep them in the same spot. First, the perfectly good steering wheel needed polishing. Then, all the Wii batteries mysteriously went missing, and so forth. Nico was about at his patience's end, and so was everyone else.

"No, we can't move on!" Cried Leo, jolting Nico from his thoughts. He groaned, along with everyone else in the room.

"Why not, Leo?" Asked Jason through gritted teeth.

"Uh, because… the windows need polishing! Yeah, that's it!" He said quickly.

"This is getting ridiculous." Said Hazel. "Lets have a vote. All those in favor of moving on." Her hand went up, along with Piper's, Jason's, and Nico's. "All in favor of…window polishing." Leo and Coach Hedge put their hands up.

"What?" Asked Hedge when everyone stared at him. "Glass is delicious!" Hazel turned to Leo.

"Sorry, but you've been outvoted."

"Well… I built the ship, so my vote counts double! And so does Coach Hedge's, 'cuz he's the chaperone." Cried Leo desperately. Nico rolled his eyes, sharing the exasperation of everyone else in the room.

"Leo, even if that were true, that would make the vote four to four. We still wouldn't be cleaning." Said Hazel, trying to be patient.

"Yeah, but no one won the vote, so we still can't move on." He argued.

"Fine." Said Nico suddenly. "Lets go wake up Frank, then. He'll be the tie breaker."

"NO! I mean, I told you, he's sleeping off a bad headache, you can't wake him up!" Rambled Leo, looking more upset by the minute.

"He's been napping for the past four hours." Snapped Nico irritably. "It's about time he got up anyway."

"I'll go get him." Said Jason, as he stood up and walked out of the room. Leo looked like he might be sick. A moment later, everyone found out why when Jason walked back into the room alone.

"Leo." He said in a carefully controlled voice. "Where is Frank?"

"Wasn't he in his room?" Asked Leo weakly.

"No, and his bed hasn't been slept in recently, either. But you already knew that." Grumbled Jason.

"Leo," Said Piper gently, her voice full of power, "Where is Frank?" Leo seemed to deflate.

"I'm not sure. He went off to find the missing page in my guide, and he hasn't come back yet." Muttered Leo, his voice barely audible.

"WHA-" Nico's furious yell was cut of as something large thumped on the deck above their heads. Nico stared at his friends for a moment, then they all surged to the door at once to confront to newcomer.

When they got to the deck, a surprising sight greeted the demigods. A large eagle had crash-landed on the deck and was sprawled a few feet from a teenage girl, who was curled up on the deck, screaming. The girl looked to be about 15 with choppy black hair and silvery clothes, and a silver ringlet-like tiara. Nico recognized her immediately.

"Thalia?" He asked in disbelief. Nico ran over and gently shook the girl, who managed to stop screaming, but she was still shaking. The girl took an unsteady breath and stood up, glaring around her as if daring anyone to make fun of her.

"Hey, Nico." She said. Nico turned back to his gaping friends, who all looked shocked except for Jason, who ran forward to hug his sister.

"So, I'm guessing you finally came to your senses and came after me?" Asked Leo, giving Thalia a saucy wink. Thalia ignored him, looking instead to the eagle who changed into Frank-form.

"Man, you must really want to die or something." He muttered, shaking his head to clear the dizziness away.

"I don't like heights." She said icily, glaring at the offending demigod.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Piper cheerfully- she'd developed a friendship with Thalia on their last encounter and was clearly pleased to see her again.

"Saving your friend's butt from Gaea." She muttered, and ignoring the shocked questions that followed her statement, continued in a louder voice. "I was actually looking for you guys. I was at Camp recently, and Chiron told me about your quest. I have some information you need- Artemis told me something a while ago I think you need to hear. And I think you should get Bianca- she's a big part of this."

So, what does Thalia know? ;) Next chapter will defiantly be back to Percy/Annabeth/Luke, but you'll find out Thalia's secret in the chapter after that! OK, Reviewer's question:

**What was your favorite PJO book? Mine was the Last Olympian, because it just all came together in that book, if you know what I mean. **

**Until next time! **


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey, guys. Sorry about the wait. :( My laptop doesn't want to connect to the Internet all of the sudden, so I couldn't get online to update. I'm using my sister's desktop computer to post, hopefully I'll be able to get my laptop fixed soon. **

** While we're on the topic of sad stuff, please keep the people injured in the Boston Marathon in your hearts and prayers, as well as their families. It's sick that this idiot bombed innocent people, and I hope they catch him/them. I know a couple that was in the race, thank God they're both ok. **

** Moving on from the depressing stuff- thanks to everyone who reviewed. :) Keep it up, guys. Also, I'm currently looking for a beta reader. I've had several people comment on spelling errors, etc, but I don't know where to start. Can someone please PM me and help me out a little? Maybe give me some good authors who might be willing to help me out? **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I'm not Rick. Wouldn't that be cool, though? **

Percy's POV

_"The keys, Annabeth! Your quest will fail unless you can safely pass through the seven realms of Hades!"_ Echoed Athena's voice, bouncing around in Annabeth's head. She could almost swear it was mocking her. Her mother had appeared in a dream last night and warned her daughter that their quest was doomed to fail without the '7 keys', whatever that meant. To Annabeth's immense relief, her mom seemed back to normal, although the info she offered had so far been good for nothing except to frustrate the demigod to no end.

"Wise girl? You ok?" Came her boyfriend's voice, jerking her from her thought.

"Yeah." She lied. "Just thinking." Percy was not one to be so easily dissuaded, though.

"About…?" He pressed.

"I dreamed about my mom last night." Annabeth admitted. "She said we needed some keys or something." Percy frowned, clearly as confused as his girlfriend.

"Well, we need to lock the doors of death, right?" Said Percy slowly, sitting back on his heels from where he had been shoving some nectar into a bag on Luke's cave floor. The trio was preparing to head out- where exactly they were going, they had no idea.

"Maybe we need special keys to lock the doors?" He suggested, finishing the thought uncertainly.

"Keys?" Asked Luke from where he was lounging in the corner, making Annabeth jump. Since they had found Luke, Annabeth had done her best to act natural even though the tension between the two of them was almost tangible. Percy, on the other hand, had made no attempt to disguise that he was watching Luke very carefully. It annoyed Annabeth, but she tried her best to ignore it.

"Yeah, something about the keys granting us safe passage." Explained Annabeth, not looking at Luke. It sounded stupid, even to her, and she hated sounding stupid.

"Keys for safe passage? Are you sure?" Asked Luke, sounding uneasy.

"Absolutely."

"I've heard of them." He said, defiantly uneasy now. "I've heard the monsters down here mention them."

"You talk to the monsters?" Asked Percy tightly.

"I'm the first demigod some of them have seen in centuries." Luke explained. "They'll brag about anything to sound big and bad- even some old dusty keys."

"So what are they?" Asked Annabeth, awkwardness cast aside in her eagerness for info.

"Well, supposedly there are seven realms of Hades, each with two 'parts.' The mortal seven parts- which are in the House of Hades- and the ones down here. I'm not sure how you pass from realm to realm in the mortal world, but rumor is that down here you use keys."

"And there are seven keys. One for each realm." Annabeth said softly. "Where can we find these keys?" She asked, louder this time.

"The first one would be hidden somewhere in this realm, guarded by a monster or something. We'd have to find it. Before the sun sets, too." Percy and Annabeth didn't question this rule- more monsters came out at night, as the horrible sounds that had wafted to the cave last night had proven.

Hours later the blood-red glow that emitted vaguely from somewhere high overhead was fading. It wasn't exactly a sun, and it didn't quite count as daylight when it cast everything in shades of gruesome maroon, but it was all the demigods had.

"The sun's almost set." Groaned Luke in defeat.

"We still have at least another hour." Said Annabeth stubbornly. "We can keep looking." Her voice didn't betray it, but she was close to giving up, too. They had searched all day and found nothing concealed in the rocky cliffs and poisonous mist. They had encountered a monster or two, but Luke had taken care of them with his beast balls, as Percy had named them.

"Hey, check this out! I'm flying!" Laughed Percy.

"Percy, we don't have time for-" Began Annabeth, but she stopped with a shriek as she turned around.

As she'd turned around, she'd caught a glimpse of black hair disappearing through a hole in the rocky ground, and then Percy was… gone. Vanished. Annabeth ran to the hole, not noticing in her worry that this was the only gap with no green mist wafting out of it.

"PERCY?!" She cried, desperately praying she would hear an answer. She had not come all this way with him for him to fall in a hole.

"Annabeth, you should see this." Came his voice, barely audible. _Gods, this boy is an idiot!_ Cursed Annabeth silently, secretly extremely relieved to hear his voice after the fall. _He obviously can't climb out, and we can't be separated… oh, to Hades with it all! Well, here goes nothing._

"Luke, I'm going to join him. Stay nearby in case we need help." She said, preparing to jump.

"Annabeth, no!" Cried Luke, grabbing her arm. Annabeth jerked back as if he had shocked her… and fell backwards into the hole.

But she didn't fall. Not at first, anyway. She simply floated above the gap, and a voice she was certain only she could hear said: "Another one? Yummy, I'm so hungry! Let her in, precious!" And then she fell, screaming, through the gap into darkness. 

**Short, but oh well. I've posted my first ever song fic- its major Percabeth, fluffy and all with no lemons- so if you like that kind of thing check it out. :) Also, if you haven't read my holiday drabbles, give them a look. **

**Reviewers Question: How did you first discover the PJO books? I bought the sea of monsters at a school book fair when I was in 2****nd**** grade and fell in love with the series. How about you guys? **

**Until next time! :-) **


	10. Chapter 9

Good news, guys! I got my laptop fixed! Yayyyy! So, update time. Quick note: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Love y'all! :) Also, from now on I won't update 'till I get at least one review. I don't think that's too much to ask- I believe in you guys!

Disclaimer: If I owned PJO, the series would be awful. I don't own anything.

Nico's POV

Nico had a huge headache, and was feeling peevish. Sitting in the lounge, waiting for Thalia to explain, wasn't helping things. To Nico's right sat Piper with Bianca on her lap, and Leo sat directly across from him. Frank was sitting at the end on the table rubbing a large bruise on his neck from his encounter with Gaea, and Thalia was pacing the length of the room. Jason was leaning against the closed door, half keeping watch, half waiting for Thalia to begin, and Hazel was sitting on Nico's left idly spinning a diamond the size of a baseball. Coach Hedge was on a couch in the corner, eating silverware.

"Come on, cupcake, spill." Said Coach Hedge eventually, but because he was eating it sounded more like "Covm on coovcace sprill." Thankfully, Thalia seemed to get the message. After shooting a glare toward Coach Hedge, she began.

"Many of you probably know that Gaea wants Bianca." Heads nodded around the room- Frank had made that clear already. "What you probably don't know is why." Once again, heads nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"The doors of death must be closed from both sides, right? But you can't just walk up and close them- you have to have 7 keys and 7 locks." At her words questions immediately bubbled up, but Thalia shut them all up with one icy glare.

"Be quiet and let me finish." She snapped. "The keys are in Tartarus, but the locks are hidden in various places in the mortal world. Just after you left, Rachel had a prophecy, and that's how I know. Listen:"

"14 items hidden deep in despair

A demigod scarred beyond repair

One resurrected will rise to the test

And prove she can beat the beat back all the rest

But such a power comes with a price

And despite all her power, she will die twice."

Her words were meet by silence, and Nico looked over at Bianca. _One resurrected… she will die twice._ Who else could that mean, besides Bianca? Nico had lost his sister once- he wasn't going to lose her again.

"These prophecies always have double meanings." Hazel offered gently, as if reading his thoughts.

"This one seemed pretty straight forward." Nico snapped, his headache worsening. He immediately regretted being so harsh when Hazel's face feel and Frank shot him a glare.

"Hey, we can protect her! I'll just blow all them crazy assassins up!" Said Coach Hedge, the only one who seemed excited at the prospect of a fight.

"Why would Gaea want to kill Bianca?" Asked Jason suddenly. "I mean, look at her! She's just a kid."

"I can answer that, too. She doesn't necessarily want to kill her- yet. But she needs her. Bianca stole something, didn't you Bianca?" Asked Thalia, an edge of dry humor to her voice. Bianca turned beet red and her chubby toddler hand clunked something hard and shiny on the table- a lock.

It looked like an ordinary locker lock, but instead of a combination it had a keyhole with greenish mist oozing out of it. It was small enough- a bit bigger than Nico's fist, maybe. Jason walked over and studied it thoughtfully.

"Huh. What's with the mist?" He muttered quietly, reaching out to pick it up. The moment he did he dropped it with a howl of pain.

"WHAT THE H-" He began, but Piper interrupted him.

"Jason!" She scolded, jerking her head toward Bianca.

"Only a child of Hades who has ever entered his dominion can touch the lock." Smirked Thalia as she examined her brother's hand. "Meaning one of his children who has died." At her words Hazel experimentally poked the lock, but immediately pulled her red finger back with a gasp of pain.

"A child of _Hades_." Thalia repeated. "The locks were made during the reign of the Greek gods, so it doesn't really apply to children of Pluto."

"Oh." Said Hazel, watching as Bianca grabbed the lock and spun it around one chubby finger, giggling as the green mist flowed down her forearm.

"Because of the 'Big Three' thing, Bianca is the only resurrected child of Hades alive right now. That makes her very dangerous to Gaea- in her eyes, Bianca must be eliminated to protect her throne." Looking at the happy toddler, it was hard to believe that the supreme earth goddess could fear her. "But," Continued Thalia. "She also needs Bianca's help to destroy them."

"Destroy them?" Asked Frank, his eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

"Only Bianca can safely touch them, so only she can hold them long enough to destroy them. We all need her." Thalia finished. Everyone stayed silent, absorbing the bad news like a sponge absorbs water. Nico glanced at his friends and noticed Frank looked near panic.

"Frank? You ok?" Asked Hazel.

"Guys," Gulped Frank. "When I encountered Gaea… she mentioned trading Bianca for some medicine. What if-" Frank broke off and took a deep breath before continuing. "What if instead of _killing_ Bianca she wants to _infect_ her? Making her fatally ill would keep her alive long enough to force her to destroy the locks, but still eliminate her ultimately. I passed up the chance to get the cure." It made sense, Nico had to admit. Horrible sense. Piper turned out to be the only one who had kept her wits about her.

"Frank, if she wanted Bianca, the medicine would have been useless. She was trying to trick you." Piper reasoned gently.

"I should have found a way to outsmart her!" Wailed Frank.

"The earth goddess? Sure, fly boy. Piper's right- you couldn't have done anything different." Thalia agreed in her sarcastic way.

"Calm down, Frank." Piper said gently. Nico didn't know if it was Piper's reasoning or charmspeak, but Frank took a deep breath and excused himself to get a bit of air and clear his head. Jason and Thalia left soon after to say their goodbyes- Thalia needed to get back to the huntresses- and Piper joined them to say goodbye to her friend. Nico, who didn't know his cousin that well, got up and headed off to bed. It was late, and his headache was getting worse.

Naturally he had a ominous dream of doom. When he fell asleep he was in darkness. No light trickled into the rough circular cavern, although Nico could feel fresh air. No, cavern wasn't the right word- more like a deep hole, or a ditch. _Dear, I smell demigod. _Echoed a eerie voice. Nico wasn't sure how to explain it, but he couldn't hear the voice exactly. It was more like a forced thought, as if he could almost sense it in his mind. Above him a far off cry of shock echoed down, followed by a whoop of excitement.

"Hey, check this out! I'm flying!" Came the voice. It was faint, but there was no mistaking Percy's voice.

_Let him in, precious. _Hissed the voice. _I'm hungry. Oh Gaea will be so pleased!_

And with that Nico jerked awake, thinking _a happy Gaea can only mean bad news for us._

And there you have it! I forgot to add this earlier, so I'm going to throw it in quickly here: If you read my songfic thing, you may have noticed I recently took it off line. For copyright reasons, I had to take it off. I'm sorry- I've started another story though called School of Secrets. Please check it out. Here's the summery:

"Have you ever had a secret so big that you felt like you might explode? Well, my name's Annabeth Chase, and today I overhead something that could destroy us all." When a school has a hidden secret and the students are all in danger, can anyone save them?

Reviewer's question: Who is your favorite PJO or HoO character? It can't be Percy. Sorry, guys. Mine's probably either Leo or Annabeth. What about y'all?


	11. Chapter 10

**Hey, guys! Time for the next Chapter, and this one's back in Tartarus! Yay! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, keep it up! :) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything… *sob***

Luke's POV

Luke was freaking out. First Percy, now Annabeth- he wasn't sure what was down there, but whatever it was could not be good. _C'mon Luke, _He mentally chided himself. _You've got to help them! They could be in trouble! _Just when he didn't need it, though, Kronos started talking again. _Why kill yourself along with them? Just walk away, you can't save them! Who are you kidding? You're no hero. _Luke cringed at the voice. He never considered himself a hero, but the harsh analysis still hurt. A cry of pain echoing from the hole made up his mind for him- he couldn't leave Annabeth. Not again. With that firmly decided in his mind, Luke took a running start and fell into darkness.

Luke fell with a bone-rattling jolt as he slammed against hard rock. Propping himself up against the uneven side, he took a deep breath and checked gingerly for broken bones. Finding none, he staggered to his feet and examined his surroundings. Or at least, he tried too. The pit was pitch black. He opened his mouth to call out to Annabeth and Percy, but a new voice stopped him short.

_"Hum, daughter of Athena and… Poseidon? Ugh, I hate seafood. Oh well, I suppose you won't taste half bad with a little butter…"_ It wasn't exactly talking, though. It was more along the lines of something Luke could hear in his head. Creepy.

"Oh, you don't want to eat him." Assured Annabeth's voice from Luke's right. To an outsider, her voice would sound firm and confident. Luke, however, picked up on the fearful undertone. _Beat that, Jackson._ He thought smugly.

_"Oh, but I do." _Said the voice. _"I'm hungry, and for dinner tonight I think I'll have two little lost demigods!" _There was a scuffling sound and a thump, and Luke heard Annabeth give a small moan of pain.

"Mummph!" Cried a muffled voice furiously. _Jackson. Tied up already. _Thought Luke. _Gods Percy, make it hard for me, why don't you? You already took Annabeth. Now your going to get me killed! _He grumbled to himself, feeling the wall on either side of him, trying to get a sense of his surroundings. And, naturally, he kicked a rock, which bounced away and made a loud, echoing clattering noise. Perfect.

_"…Another one?" _Came the voice closely followed by a sniffing noise. _"Another one." _It stated, no longer asking a question. _"That scent… My Lord? Is that you?" _

Luke gulped, recognizing the voice now. This particular monster even Kronos had decided to leave in Tartarus- too dangerous.

"Yes, it is I." Called Luke, trying to imitate the deep, commanding voice of Kronos. He was pretty sure he wasn't doing a good job, but apparently this monster hadn't heard Kronos talk much, because she bought it.

_"Lord?" _Cried the voice happily. _"Have you come to free me?"_ Luke gulped again, feeling a bit guilty.

"Yes, yes, of course." He said, ignoring the snickering voice of the real Kronos in his head. "Who could ever forget about you, Quae Daemon?" The monster gave a little noise of joy when Luke said her name.

_"Lord, share my feast!"_ Called out Quae Daemon, and Luke heard a painful sounding thump as two people- or more accurately, demigods- were passed in front of him.

"Well, fresh meat in the open air is always better." Said Luke. "So I better just take these and be on my way." He reached for his captive friends, but Quae jerked them away and he ended up stumbling forward blindly in the darkness.

_"But... Lord, aren't you here to free me?" _Quae asked slowly, a dangerous edge creeping into her voice.

"Of course!" Said Luke quickly. "But sunlight is good for the soul, so.."

_"Lord, you know the sun burns me... if you even are Kronos."_ She said eerily, and Luke backed up as he felt hot breath of his face. She was coming toward him.

_"You're no Titan." _She sneered suddenly. _"Just a demigod seeking the key. Well, you won't get it. I won't let you." _She continued, anger creeping into her voice. Then she lunged for him, and Luke tumbled back. _Fighting one on one with a monster on their home turf... you want to die. _Sneered Kronos tauntingly, but as Quae lunged again, Luke found himself agreeing. He was doomed. _Somebody, anybody, help!_ He begged mentally as he was knocked violently against an outcrop. _Please!_

**Uh oh... Luke's in trouble. Can anyone come to his rescue? Guess you'll have to wait and see! ;) Reviewers Question: Who do you think is the creepiest monster Percy (or any other demigod) has ever battled? (Besides Kronos, obviously.) I'd say Arachne. Ugh, spiders. Until next time! **


	12. Chapter 11

**Yes, I'm still alive and writing, sorry for the awful wait. :( I wish I could say that I had some amazing excuse… does a killer sunburn count? No? Then I have no excuse. Good news- I'm back, and updating! Yayyyy! **

** Disclaimer: Hahahahahahaha no. **

Nico's POV

Nico's peaceful sleep was rudely interrupted by- that's right, a dream. He was in a dark hole, and after a second he realized that it was the same place Nico had last dreamt of. Another surprise came when he looked around. Key word- _looked_. Despite the lack of light, Nico could see. Granted everything had a faint greenish hue, like when you look through night vision goggles, but sight was sight. Weather it was some new demigod power or just a weird side effect of the dream, Nico didn't know, but whatever it was, he was grateful for it.

_I should have known! Kronos does not pick such wimpy forms! _Cried a furious voice, sounding both angry and disappointed at the same time. Nico turned to the voice and stumbled back in shock when his eyes came to rest on the monster.

She had the lower body of a scaly green serpent with pointed spikes at the end, but at her waist the scales disappeared to be replaced with the upper body of a woman. The woman's torso, though, was coated in a thin layer of coarse, tan fur that gave the monster a slightly blurred appearance. Despite her youthful face, she had long, tangled white hair with various bones and bugs caught in it. Her face was actually quite pretty with a small, round nose and almond shaped eyes, but the fact that her eyes were red and that her six-inch fangs dripped with poison completely ruined the image. Currently, her stop sign colored eyes were glaring intently at a fallen form in front of her. Nico followed her gaze- and froze as he recognized the fallen form to be Luke.

Being so close to the famous traitor made Nico's anger bubble to the surface- as a son of Hades, it just wasn't in his nature to forgive Luke, even after he'd saved the world- but Nico shoved his anger down. Now was not the time to be losing his head over a dead demigod.

"Ahh." Gasped a familiar voice from behind Nico. He spun around to see Annabeth, struggling to sit up and holding her bad ankle, her face white with pain. Judging by the white bandage wrapped tightly around her ankle that replaced the more supportive cast, she had clearly been on the road to recovery, but the blow she had taken from the monster had obviously re-injured her. Percy was next to her, looking worried as if he shared Nico's thoughts, but was unable to help her because his hands and feet were tied up firmly and he had been gagged. He struggled against his bonds, but without his sword to cut through them he got nowhere.

"Umph," Grunted Luke from behind Nico.

"Luke!" Screamed Annabeth suddenly, her voice desperate, and Nico spun around to see Quae the monster slithering toward him, her eyes alight with anger and her fangs barred and dripping black poison. Luke rolled away just as Quae lunged, but his roll had no certain direction, and with a jolt of horror Nico realized Luke couldn't see down here. None of them but him and Quae could see in the dark pit, giving Quae a definite advantage. How could Luke fight something ha couldn't see?

"To your left! Roll right! ROLL RIGHT!" Screamed Nico. He may not like Luke too much, but he did care about Percy and Annabeth, and Luke might be their only hope. Luke didn't respond to his warning though, and with a sinking feeling in his stomach Nico realized that he couldn't hear him. The cornered demigod gave a cry of pain as one of Quae's tail spikes caught him on his shoulder. He stumbled back, clutching his shoulder. The cut wasn't deep, but it was long, and although Nico was no doctor, Luke's shoulder looked dislocated to him. Nico had to help him, but how? Luke couldn't hear him, and in Tartarus were all the dead monsters were alive again, he couldn't call on his skeleton army, either. The son of Hades desperately searched his mind for anything he'd ever heard or learned about the monster. She looked vaguely familiar- Nico _knew_ he'd seen something about her before.

_C'mon Nico, think! _He mentally ordered himself, whishing Annabeth could hear him. He was sure she knew everything there was to know about the beast, but in his dream state he was unable to ask, as well as being unable to use his sword to free Percy. Dreams, except for special exceptions, couldn't talk or fight. _There's got to be something…_ _dang! Look at that speed!_ He grimaced as Quae zigzagged back and forth, just messing with Luke now. She knew she had won. _Makes sense, she has like 550 speed power. Whoa- speed power? Where did that come from? _With a jolt, Nico remembered where he'd seen Quae- on a mythomagic playing card. _What were her weaknesses?_ As Nico racked his memory, Quae slithered closer to Luke. He was running out of time. _Silver? No, that's not right. Bronze? No, her scales protect her from bronze. Something that hits her despite her scales… Sunlight! It was sunlight! _Nico scanned the opening in the roof. Why didn't sunlight come through? There was no reason it shouldn't… unless something was blocking it. Nico grimly scanned the walls for ledges to climb. He had to get to the top and unclog that opening before Quae could hurt Luke, or even worse, Percy and Annabeth.

Finding the ledge, Nico clambered quickly up till he was just below the opening. He looked up, but he didn't see anything. Just darkness. Suddenly the darkness surged toward him and wrapped firmly around his neck, yanking the choking demigod up.

"Hello, boy." Said a voice coolly. "My master may not see you, but _I_ can." Nico simply made a gagging noise in respond. "My master made me to protect her, and keep that dreaded sunlight at bay. But I can also see and interact with unwanted visitors, like _you._" The voice spat. Nico didn't respond, and he was starting to feel light headed. Below him, Quae was nearly to Luke, and her hissing laughter echoed around the cave in triumph. _Wait- if she can touch me, than I can touch her. _The realization came to Nico like a sudden strike of lightning. He struggled to reach his sword, his fingers just brushing the hilt before she whipped him back and forth violently, making Nico's head spin and dots dance before his eyes. He desperately reached again, feeling blackness creep into the edges of his vision as he neared unconsciousness. Finally he gripped the hilt and pulled his sword out, but the monster was unconcerned.

"Too late, too late." It sang coolly, and beneath Nico Quae coiled back, her fangs bared, and lunged toward Luke's chest. A sudden surge of anger gave Nico strength, and he stabbed his sword upward, his am shaking with impact as it collided with the beast. The dark mass gave a dying screech and dissolved, and the suddenly free Nico dropped like a stone as Tartarus' red sunlight filled the room. Nico scrabbled at a ledge, gasping for breath. Even with his fuzzy vision, though, Nico saw the sunlight hit Quae full on. With a shriek of pain, Quae shrank back, badly burned. She couldn't die, obviously, but she shrank into a dark corner, trapped by the sun. Luke sat up, uninjured besides his shoulder, and stumbled over to Luke and Annabeth, freeing them. The last thing Nico saw as he woke up was a golden key, glimmering in the sunlight.

**Well, there you have it! :) Reviewer's question time! What are your thoughts on Reyna's crush on Percy? Personally, I prefer Annabeth. I do feel a bit bad for Reyna, though. She's, like, forever alone. Depressing. Until next time! **


	13. Chapter 12 part 1

**Update time! :) I know I haven't been updating as regularly as I used too- I've been focusing a lot on some of my other PJO stories. (By the way, check them out if you haven't yet!) Anyways, sorry about the wait. **

** Disclaimer: RR owns all **

Piper's POV

It was a beautiful day, but the demigods cramped up in the lounge didn't know that. They'd been in that room for hours, trying to figure out where the first lock might be.

"Somewhere evil and twisted, right? What about a prison?" Suggested Frank.

"No, a criminal would have found a glowing green lock." Jason pointed out as the group continued arguing.

"I'm going to get some fresh air." Said Piper. In all the arguing, no one noticed, so with a sigh Piper got up and left the room.

Once one the polished wooden deck, she leaned over the railing and blew a small braided strand of hair out of her face, enjoying the silence the empty area offered.

"Piper?" Called a familiar voice. Piper spun around to see a small, misted image suspended in midair a few feet away- an IM. The face in the IM had a bad case of acne, curly hair, and unmistakable pointed horns.

"Grover!" Greeted Piper happily. She'd met the Lord of the Wild briefly at Camp Half-Blood when he'd returned to visit his girlfriend, Juniper. Annabeth had introduced them, and the two had gotten along well from the start, despite Grover's wariness of Aphrodite campers.

"How's camp?" Piper continued wistfully.

"Not good." Bleated the satyr. "There're Roman demigods attacking us! We're their allies, and they want to _fight _us!" He explained indignantly.

"We might be to blame for that," Piper admitted. "We got off to a bad start with them." Grover gave her a funny look, but didn't press for details.

"Please tell me you've almost defeated Gaea!"

"Uh… we're working on it." She replied uneasily. "We have to rescue Annabeth and Percy, first."

"WHAT?!" Cried Grover. "What happened to Annabeth and Percy?"

"They sort of… fell into Tartarus." Muttered Piper. "To rescue them, we have to find a place a item from Hades would be unnoticed and safe here in the mortal world." Piper continued, ignoring Grover shocked questions. "Any ideas?" At her question Grover grew silent, thinking.

"No, I've never heard of a place like that." He said finally, and Piper felt her heart sink. "Wait! Have you tried DOA Recording Studios in Los Angeles?"

"DOA Recording Studios? Never heard of it." Replied Piper curiously.

"It's the mortal entrance to the underworld." Explained Grover. "Percy, Annabeth, and I went there on a quest a long time ago." As he spoke, Piper felt hope begin to bubble up inside her.

"That sounds about right!" She said in excitement.

"Just to warn you, though-" Whatever Grover was about to say, though, was cut off as Lacy burst into the room.

"Grover! Where's Chiron? The Romans are at the boundaries!" She cried, her voice high pitched with fear. Grover turned back to the IM, looking worried.

"I've got to go. Good luck, Piper." With a wave of his hand, the IM evaporated into thin air.

"You, too." Said Piper, even though she knew Grover couldn't hear her, and then she turned and hurried back to the lounge.

Naturally, the other demigods not only were still arguing, but also hadn't noticed her absence. Piper slid into her seat and cleared her throat. No response.

"Uh, guys?" They continued to argue.

"Guys!" Nada.

"STOP ARGUING!" She cried, exasperated. She hadn't meant to use charmspeak, but she knew she had when everyone in the room immediately snapped their mouths shut.

"Finally," She sighed. "I think I know where the lock might be." A torrent of questions immediately followed her declaration, and she waited for it to quiet back down before she continued.

"There's a mortal entrance to the Underworld in Los Angeles. Why don't we try there?"

"That might be it." Admitted Jason after a brief moment's thought. "But we'd have to go back to the States to check. Are you sure it's there?"

"Absolutely." She replied, using Charmspeak to mask her own doubts.

"Leo," Said Jason, turning to the demigod. "How long would it take to go back to America?" Leo shrugged.

"Depends," He said. "Could take a few days, or it could take months."

"It needs to be fast," warned Piper. "The two camps are fighting already, so they need Gaea stopped as much as Percy and Annabeth do." At her words, a tension seemed to fill the room as Greek and Roman demigods glared at each other across the room.

"Guys," Said Leo finally, realizing what was happening. "We can't fight just because our camps are. The only way we can save our friends is to stick together and kick Gaea's butt, all other differences aside."

"Leo's right." Piped up Hazel. "How fast can this ship go at top speed?" At her question Leo grinned the grin of a maniac.

"I thought you'd never ask."

"You ok?" Asked Jason from behind Piper.

"Yeah," Piper lied as she leaned back against the railing, looking at the stars. They looked clear enough, but the choppy water below them was blurred by speed, creating a dizzying but beautiful effect.

"Liar." Accused Jason gently. "C'mon, Pipes, what's wrong?" Piper hesitated, but decided she might as well be honest. After all, this was Jason.

"I'm worried I might have just set us way off track by suggesting that the lock was in the U.S." She admitted.

"It's the best lead we have," Jason pointed out. "And we have to start somewhere."

"I know," Said Piper. She still felt uneasy, though. "I just have the feeling that we're asking for trouble." _What if we run into a Roman demigod going back to Camp Jupiter for medicine or on a quest or something? _It was an irrational fear, and one she certainly wouldn't tell to Jason, but she couldn't seem to shake it off. If Jason sensed that she wasn't telling him everything, he didn't show it.

"You should get some rest," he said gently as he gave her a hug.

"Muhum." Murmured Piper into Jason's chest. "I'll see you in the morning, then." She hesitated for a moment, wanting Jason to say something sweet back, but he just nodded and gave her a quick kiss before heading to his cabin. Piper was slightly disappointed, but not surprised. Jason was firm and just so… _Roman. _He wasn't sweet like Frank, or funny like Leo, or loving like Percy. Not that Piper would want to date any of them, Jason was great, but he was a leader. Being a boyfriend was a bit new to him.

With a sigh Piper headed off to bed, dismissing the thoughts from her head.

Piper's dream was brief. She was at Camp Half-Blood, under Thalia's old Pine Tree. She looked around the camp wistfully, wishing she could be back here. In her dream, the camp was empty of both regular campers and roman attackers. It was quiet and peaceful.

"He does care, you know." Came a familiar voice. Piper jerked her head around to see her Mom next to her.

"Mom?" Asked Piper, surprised. She hadn't seen her mom since before Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus, and honestly it had hurt a bit. It was almost like her mom said _well, you and Jason are together. My work is done, have a nice life. I'm off to find another couple to torture. _Piper didn't particularly want Aphrodite's help in her love life, but a "hi" every now and then would be nice. Seeing her now, Piper was both wary and happy, which was a confusing combination.

"He does care," repeated Aphrodite.

"Who?" Asked Piper, shaking her head to clear it.

"Jason," replied Aphrodite, rolling her eyes. "Who else?" Piper ignored the last part.

"What do you mean?"

"You think he doesn't care for you," scoffed Aphrodite. "Just because he doesn't always know how to show it doesn't mean that he doesn't love you." Piper just stared at her mom.

"I've got to go," Aphrodite continued. "But don't doubt Jason, ok?" And with that she began to vaporize.

"What? Wait? No! I've got so much to ask you! Is the lock in LA?" Cried Piper desperately, lunging for her mom's hand. Aphrodite just smiled and disappeared, and Piper fell forward, through the ground, and into empty space as her dream turned black.

"Piper? Piper! Wake up!" Urged Hazel as she shook Piper gently. Piper jolted upright suddenly.

"Mom! Wait!" She cried as her eyes flew open. When she saw Hazel her expression turned into confusion.

"We're just outside LA." Hazel explained. "I came to wake you up. Did you say your mom was in your dream? What did she say?" Asked Hazel curiously, making Piper turn pink.

"Nothing," she muttered as she got up and headed over to her closet. "Tell the others I'll be on deck in 10 minutes." She called after Hazel as she left the room.

"So this is DOA Recording Studios." Mused Jason as he looked at the crisp black marble building. Etched in the double glass doors where the words: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING. Through the clear doors, the full lobby was brightly lit and a security desk loomed in the back near an elevator. Nico walked forward and pushed the doors open, stepping in confidently. The rest of the demigods followed a little bit more hesitantly, when suddenly the security guard looked up. He glared at them from across the room.

"And what," he asked coolly. "Exactly do you think you're doing here?"

**Yeah… so, I'll try to post part two to this chapter soon. This weekend, maybe? By the way, in case you couldn't tell, the security guard is Charon. Ok, Reviewer's question: Who has read Son of Sobek already? I want to get my hands on that book so bad, but I haven't gotten a chance yet. Has anyone read it yet? Is it good? Until next time! **


	14. Chapter 12 part 2

**Hi guys. Yes, I'm back with part 2! Yay! **

**Disclaimer: Rick: Are you trying to steal my story?! **

**Me: Yup… **

**Rick: *dials 911 threateningly***

**Me: Ok, Ok! RR owns all! **

Nico's POV

"Hello, Charon." Nico replied. The others may have been uneasy in DOA Recording Studios, but Nico felt right at home. The cool marble and dead souls waiting around the room didn't bother him- they actually put him more at ease. They obeyed him, and more to the point, you couldn't fail a dead person. Nico had no one to impress, and knowing that seemed to help his stress leak away.

"Lord Nico," Muttered Charon. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for something." Nico replied. "We have to help our friends in Tartarus."

"Tartarus?" Scoffed Charon. "They're doomed, young Lord. I'd give up now."

"Percy and Annabeth will make it." Snapped Piper before Nico could say another word.

"Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase?" Questioned the guard. "They were here… oh, was it five years ago? Six, maybe? They told me they'd drowned in a bathtub."

"Big bathtub," marveled Leo from behind Nico.

"That's what I said," shrugged Charon.

"You believed that the son of Poseidon drowned in a bathtub?" Asked Frank skeptically, studying Charon in disbelief.

"I didn't know he was Poseidon's son at the time," snapped Charon. "Lord Nico, your friends are most annoying."

"We need a lock. Do you know of one?" Asked Nico, ignoring Charon's last statement.

"I'd suggest Ace hardware, or maybe Lowe's." Sneered Charon. "We don't really need to lock up things when we harbor dead souls."

"Not even the Door of Death?" Interrupted Nico pointedly. Charon fell silent for a moment.

"Those locks?" He asked softly. "Lord Nico, this is madness. Those locks… your father… ask me for something like that, and you send me to my death."

"You have one?" Asked Leo eagerly, ignoring the dooms day warning.

"Lord Hades entrusted one to me, yes."

"We need it."

"No," Argued Charon. "Lord Hades told me to protect it without exception. His wishes out weigh yours, demigods, even if his son is with you. And even if he hadn't given me such an order, those locks aren't something you can just throw around."

"How can we get it, then?" Asked Piper.

"You can't," said Charon dryly.

"There must be something we could do," protested Jason.

"There isn't," snapped Charon. "Go away, demigods." On that note, Charon leaned back in his chair and flipped idly through a magazine, ignoring the demigods. The group walked across the room, out of earshot from the guard, and got in a huddle.

"We need that lock," whispered Jason, glancing over at the guard. "Nico, does Charon have any major weaknesses?"

"He's greedy," offered Nico.

"I can't see how that would help us much… unless…" Jason trailed off as his eyes lit up. "Alright, listen up. I know what we need to do."

The group leaned in and listened carefully as Jason explained his plan.

"It might work…" Mused Piper.

"It's defiantly worth a shot," agreed Hazel. "Lets try it."

"What do you want?" Groaned Charon in exasperation as Nico walked back up to his desk.

"I forgot to mention one tiny little detail-" Nico began, but was cut off as the lights flickered and then shut off.

"What the-" Muttered Charon, but he was interrupted by Piper. She didn't sound like Piper, though.

"Charon!" She cried, imitating the deep, commanding voice of Hades. "Has my son come by yet?"

"Your dad sent you?" Hissed Charon to Nico.

"Yup," lied Nico.

"Y-y-yes sir. He was here," stammered Charon.

"Good! I'm greatly pleased, Charon! As a reward, I will give you that bonus you've been begging me for."

"Sir?" Gasped the guard in disbelief. In the darkness Nico felt Hazel press a ruby the size of a baseball into his hand. He quickly tossed the red gem onto Charon's desk, letting it clatter to a stop before him. Although Nico couldn't see the guard, he could easily imagine the guard's eyes widening as he felt the size of the gem.

"After all, you _did_ give my son the lock… right?" Asked Piper, letting her voice take on a dangerous edge.

"Of course, sir!" Squeaked Charon.

"Good," Said Hades' voice in satisfaction. "I'll be leaving now. And Charon?"

"Yessir?"

"If I ever find out that you lied to me…" The dark voice trailed off ominously and there was a loud bang as in the darkness Jason made a thunder noise and slammed the door shut, as if Hades had left the room. Leo switched the lights back on and Nico turned to a now pale Charon, who now held the large ruby in his shaking hand.

"Here," he chocked, tossing a small sack to Nico. "Take it and get out of here!"

"Gladly," grinned Nico as he walked out the door. His friends joined him as they left the room.

"Two locks down," Sang out Leo cheerfully. "Five to go."

**Ok, so there's part 2! Reviewer's Question: What does everyone think of the Thalia and Nico pairing? I asked a similar question on another story and got pretty mixed results, so I'm just wondering. I don't ship them, but I'm not against them. Until next time! **


	15. Chapter 13

**OH MY FREAKING GODS. I just saw the official cover for House of Hades and it is AMAZING! Percy and Annabeth are on the cover…. oh my gods, THE FEELS! OK, just had to get that out of my system. Moving on- shout outs: **

**ThaliaJoelle-**** Thanks so much for the incredibly encouraging review- it just made my day. :) **

**Disclaimer: *SPOILER ALERT* that new cover says Rick Riordan at the bottom… bummer. **

Annabeth's POV

The moment Luke freed his companions Percy turned and helped Annabeth up. She tried to take a step forward, but her ankle had been re-injured by Quae and she probably would have collapsed again had Percy not caught her. Annabeth managed to stand back up, but was careful this time not to put weight on her injured ankle.

"Ah," she gasped through clenched teeth. Luke quickly grabbed his backpack and grabbed the dented canteen of nectar and more gauze, and Percy helped Annabeth sit down so that Luke could re-set her ankle.

Still clenching her teeth from the pain, Annabeth watched Percy walk cautiously to the middle of the room and pick up a golden key that glinted in the blood red sunlight.

"The key," he muttered, examining the small key. Then he looked back up, grinning. "Hey, wise girl, aren't you glad I jumped down here? We have the first key!" Annabeth just rolled her eyes- only her crazy boyfriend could find something to be happy about in Tartarus. Then she gasped in pain again as Luke wrapped her ankle into place with the gauze, making Percy's hopeful look turn into concern.

He quickly returned to Annabeth's side.

"You ok?" He asked gently, holding her hand.

"Fine," she gasped. Percy's eyebrows furrowed in concern, but he didn't argue.

"Can you walk?" Asked Luke, moving to help her up.

"Give her a minute," snapped Percy. "She has a broken ankle, for gods' sake."

"We need to keep moving," Luke argued back. As if to prove his point, a very burned and angry Quae hissed from her dark corner, clicking her fangs together furiously.

"Luke's right, Percy," Muttered Annabeth. "We need to move on." Percy didn't look happy about it, but he didn't argue. Luke stood up and held his hand out to Annabeth to help her up, but Percy jumped in front of him and helped Annabeth up himself.

"Thanks. Luke, where do you think the next key is?"

"Well," began Luke, "I've heard that the key 'takes you to the next stage', whatever that means. Maybe you need a lock to go with it?"

"I thought the locks were in the mortal world."

"They are," Luke admitted.

"So you have no idea where we need to go next," Percy scowled.

"Neither do you, Jackson." Hissed Luke. Annabeth quickly stepped between them.

"You're both being ridiculous!" She scolded. "Percy, give me the key. There must be some sort of hint on it." Percy obliged, and Annabeth turned the key over in her hands, studying it carefully. To her disappointment, she found it looked normal enough. Sighing, she held it out to Percy, but when she did, some green mist pooling over the ledge above them hit the key, making it turn green with gold lettering down the side.

"Wait!" Cried Annabeth in excitement. "I think I've found something!" The other two demigods huddled closer as Annabeth held the key back under the mist, being careful to keep the mist from hitting her skin.

"προσποιούμαι," read Luke, "Pretend. How does that help us?"

"Pretend," mused Annabeth quietly. "Well, lets see. What can you pretend to do with a key?"

"Keys normally unlock things, right?" Asked Percy slowly. Annabeth's eyes widened and she grinned.

"Percy, have I ever mentioned you're a genius?" She asked, giving him a quick kiss.

"You could stand to mention it more," Percy grinned, taking the key. "Um," He muttered as he held the key out in the empty air and turned it clockwise. "I feel pretty ridiculous right now." Neither of his friends got a chance to respond, though, because the world blinked out around them and they fell into darkness.

When Annabeth blinked her eyes open, she screamed. That, in turn woke the other two up, who also screamed. They were in an old car that may have at one point been a pickup car, but now it more closely resembled a garbage heap. That wasn't the scary part, though. The scary part was that they were zooming down a cracked highway filled with cars at 90 miles per hour and they were headed right for another car.

Luke, who was in the driver's seat, quickly lunged for the wheel and spun it violently, jerking the car over just in time.

"Stop the car!" Screamed Annabeth, clutching her seat in terror.

"There're no brakes!" Luke cried back, swerving again to avoid another car.

"I hate to tell you," warned Percy, struggling to keep his voice calm. "But we're being followed." Annabeth turned around to look and instantly regretted it. Through the cracked, dirty window a purple semi with red and orange flames painted on the side could be clearly seen, and a certain four-eyed feathery beast was driving.

"What is that thing?" Cried Annabeth in horror. Luke glanced over his shoulder and his face turned green.

"It's a quattuor oculos," Luke said grimly.

"Four-eyed?" Translated Percy. "That's not very original." Luke just shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Luke," asked Annabeth in a shaky voice, "please tell me we're not speeding up."

"This car has a mind of its own," cried Luke, clearly frustrated. The speedometer now read 100mphs. That seemed like a smaller problem, though, when the glass behind them cracked. Annabeth spun around to see a circular hole in the glass behind them and a second Four-eyed leaning out the other window holding a shotgun.

"They're shooting at us!" She cried in horror, ducking as another bullet cracked the glass just above her head. Percy immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him, grabbing Luke's backpack and pressing it against the window with his other hand to protect from both glass and bullets.

"Luke! Get us out of here!" Screamed Annabeth, flinching slightly as the glass behind them shattered into a million pieces.

"I'm working on it!" Luke hollered back as he swerved violently to the right, avoiding another car. "For the love of Hades, learn to drive!" Shouted Luke at the car he had just avoided, looking ticked.

"Ok, I have an idea, but you're not gonna like it!" Screamed Luke as he swerved again.

"Anything!" Cried Annabeth as another bullet whizzed past them. She instantly regretted giving her consent when she realized what Luke's plan was. Right before them, there was a truck that transported old, wreaked cars. The double bars that held the cars, though, were empty and tilted back from years of transporting vehicles. Right before the truck was a bridge, and then the road turned sharply to the left. If you kept looking straight, though, you could see a brackish black lake.

"Luke! Please, PLEASE tell me you're not about to do what I think you're going to do!" Cried Annabeth as Luke nodded grimly.

"Petty much!" Luke called back as the car zoomed to the truck. Instead of swerving, though, Luke just kept going straight.

"Luke? Luke! LUKE!" Screamed Annabeth as the car zoomed forward and onto the car transporter.

"AHHHHHHH," screamed all three, Annabeth and Percy clinging to each other for dear life as the car zoomed off the top of the truck and the ground fell away from under them. The road below them turned away, taking the Four-eyed with it, but now the trio was airborne and flying straight toward the black lake.

It happened in the blink of an eye: the car hit the lake and the demigods flew in different directions. Annabeth hit her head of the dashboard and gasped as dots spun before her eyes and black, murky water flooded the car. She clawed at the car door, trying desperately to wrench it open as the car sank in the brackish water. She finally kicked the air off the car, but she had no idea where her friends where and her lungs screamed for air. Through the dark water she saw a glimmer of red sunlight and kicked toward the surface, but it was to late. Her lungs needed air _now_, and she opened her mouth, breathing in the water. Her hands immediately flew to her throat as her vision began to fade. The sunlight grew further away as she sank deeper into the water and slipped into unconsciousness.

**Cliffy! Reviewer's Question: So, if you've seen the cover (and if you haven't, look it up. Now.) What did you think of it? It gave me chills, it was that awesome. Review, review, review! Well, until next time! **


	16. Chapter 14

**Hola! I'm back with an update :) This chapter is back to Nico and the others- the follow up on Percy and Annabeth will be in the next chapter. Shout outs: **

**Guest- ****Well, the next chapter is here! You don't have to guess anymore! Haha, :) **

**Disclaimer: If I were RR, you wouldn't be reading this until October :( **

Leo's POV

We were back in the Argo 2, staring at the two locks on the oak table in the Lounge. We had the one Thalia had given us, the one we'd tricked Charon into giving us, and no idea where the next one could be.

"There has to be some clue," fumed Nico, looking frustrated. Leo picked up the lock and grabbed a paper clip (careful not to touch the green mist), intending to give the lock the ability to walk, but Jason grabbed it, wincing, and put it back on the table.

"We can't afford to accidentally mess it up," he explained, much to Leo's disappointment.

"Well, what now? Hit McDonalds for lunch?" Leo suggested. "'Cuz I'm seriously craving a Happy Meal." The others ignored him. "No? Ok, cool, whatever." Muttered Leo.

"I heard my dad talking about lock combinations and green mist once," suggested Nico after a moment. "Maybe you have to find a way to get the mist into the keyhole?"

"It's worth a shot," agreed Piper. "But how do we get the mist into the keyhole?"

"Maybe Bianca could use her hands to wave the mist into the keyhole?" At Nico's suggestion everyone turned to the child, who sat on the floor playing with an old doll Hazel had given her. Piper gently picked her up and set her next to the lock.

"Bianca," she instructed carefully, "can you get the mist into the keyhole?" She nodded seriously, a strange look on such a young kid's face, and picked the lock up. Then, holding it up in front of her mouth, she blew across the front of the lock carefully. The mist followed the direction of her breath and dipped into the keyhole. The moment it did, a small slip of paper fell from the hole and unrolled on the table. Nico picked it up and read it aloud.

"At the world's tallest peak a lock can be found, in a cave close to the ground," he read.

"The world's tallest peak- a mountain?" Suggested Piper, looking over Nico's shoulder at the paper.

"Which mountain?" Asked Leo. "There are hundreds."

"Mount Everest," said Hazel confidently.

"How do you know?"

"Because it said to look at the tallest peak, and Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain," she explained.

"So we need to go to a cave at the base of Mount Everest," summarized Jason.

"Looks that way," agreed Nico. "Leo?"

"Already ahead of you," grinned Leo, holding up his Wii remotes.

-Line Break-

Leo looked around the campfire at his friends; all of them asleep except Hazel, who was keeping watch with him. They had "docked" the Argo 2 a safe distance from the mountain and headed out on foot to find the cave. After hours of searching, though, they hadn't found the cave yet and were way to far from the ship to walk back, so they'd made camp in a shallow outcrop near one of the few trees around. Leo had made his famous tacos and then he and Hazel had volunteered to take first watch while the others slept.

Things were going fine until Leo saw a dark figure dart down a nearby mountain path and disappear around the corner.

"Hazel? I just saw something- I'm going to go check it out," whispered Leo to Hazel.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Asked Hazel skeptically.

"I'm the Supreme Commander of the Argo 2. What could possibly go wrong?" Leo told her over his shoulder, hurrying off before Hazel could list everything that could go very, _very _wrong.

He followed the path, letting small flames dance across his fingers to light the path, until he came to the place the figure had disappeared. When he rounded the bend, he found a small cave entrance, half hidden by ivy.

"The cave," he muttered in excitement. He made to enter the cave, but then hesitated. _Should I go get the others? Na, I can do this, why not let them get all the sleep they can, _he decided, entering the cave.

For a cave, it was surprisingly well lit and furnished. It looked like a modern apartment with plush couches, sparkling counters, fluffy rugs, and even a large plasma TV. Behind one counter was a woman in her late twenties, early thirties, who was storing dried herbs in various jars. The woman looked more like a lawyer than a cavewoman, with her hair up in a bun and a professional looking outfit, complete with glasses.

"Hello, Leo Valdez," she said in a clipped tone, not even looking up from what she was doing. Leo froze and slowly stood up from behind the potted plant he'd been crouched behind.

"Uh, hi. Have we met?" Leo asked uncertainly. She certainly didn't look familiar, but Leo had always been bad with stuff like that.

"No," she said easily, sliding the last pot away.

"How do you know my name? Are you a monster?" He blurted out uneasily, feeling majorly wierded out.

"No, I'm not a monster," scoffed the woman, walking up to one of the couches and taking a seat. "My name is Loquitur."

"Teller," translated Leo.

"Yes," confirmed Teller. "I'm named that because when ever someone comes near me, I can instantly tell everything about them; their name, their fears, their stories."

"That's…a little creepy, actually," gulped Leo uncomfortably. "Uh, do you have a lock, by any chance?" At his question, Teller seemed to tense up. Not with surprise- she must have known what he was here for- but with dread.

"You know I am required to protect the lock," she informed him.

"Figures," sighed Leo. "What do I have to do? Fight you?"

"Fight me? Gods, no. Just survive my simulations."

"Simulations?" Asked Leo. "What's that?"

"I'm going to mentally put you in situations based on your fears. If you can get through all of them, I'll give you the lock," explained Teller.

"Oh," said Leo, relaxing. "I can do that." Teller shot him a look, but didn't comment.

"Close your eyes," she instructed. "And focus only on my voice." Leo obliged, and Teller began to sing in a foreign tongue, her voice soothing and rhythmic. Soon Leo felt his consciousness slip away as he seemed to slip into Teller's voice, the darkness swallowing him whole.

Leo opened his eyes feeling like he was in a dream- the colors were too bright and he felt vaguely light headed. He was walking on a sidewalk behind Piper and Jason, who were holding hands and talked in hushed tones to each other, occasionally laughing.

"Hey, guys." Leo said. His voice sounded strange- it seemed to echo around, as if he was alone and not in the open air with his friends. Jason looked over his shoulder at Leo and frowned.

"Leo? Do you need something?" He asked, sounding annoyed.

"No," said Leo. "But we're friends. Can't I hang out with you guys?"

"Piper and I were kinda about to go to a movie…" Jason trailed off meaningfully, but Leo got the message. He was a third wheel; Jason didn't want him around.

"Maybe later, man." Jason apologized, walking off hand in hand with his girlfriend. Leo may have been bad at reading people, but he knew there would be no "later." His two best friends had left him out, just like he always feared would happen.

Then suddenly the scene changed and he was in a temple of some sorts. His friends were all waist deep in mud and sinking quickly, but worse still was the fire consuming the temple. The other demigods couldn't run- they were going to die. Leo ran forward and held out his hand to help the nearest person out of the mud- in this case, Hazel- but she jerked back, her eyes wide with fear. Leo looked down and realized his hand was on fire. He had started the fire; his friends were going to die because of him, and the quest would be a failure. He was a failure- this was his fault. He stumbled back, and fell into darkness once more.

When Leo opened his eyes again, he was back in Teller's cave. He was sweating even though the cave was cool, and he couldn't seem to shake the images from his mind. On the couch opposite him, Teller was holding out a small sack.

"Here," she said. "The lock. Well done." Leo nodded and accepted the bag, but he felt hollow. He stood up and walked toward the cave entrance, stopping at the threshold.

"Teller?" He chocked out.

"Yes?"

"That wasn't the future, right?" He asked, dreading the answer.

"No," Teller reassured him. "It was _one_ future, but not necessarily _the_ future. You still have a say in the outcome of this quest."

"Good," said Leo, giving a sigh of relief. "Besides, I didn't have a girlfriend in either image. That needs to change," he joked, but he still felt shaken up inside. He left the cave soon after, one thought on his mind: _Surely it can't get worse from here. _

Poor Leo :( Reviewer's question: Any guesses as to where I got the fear simulator thing from? Leave your guesses in the reviews! Until next time!


	17. Chapter 15

**Hello everyone! I'm back with the update! :) (The answer to the last reviewers question was **_**Divergent, **_**by the way.) Shout outs: **

**LaurenJackson23- ****Thank you :) And no, no sneak peek… man, I wish though! **

**DerangedOtakuFangirl- ****I'm not sure what an otaku is… (Since my laptop isn't trying to auto correct "otaku" I'm guessing it's something obvious I should know, but oh well) **

**pearl12322- ****Here you go! ;) **

**Guest- ****The only one (so far) to guess **_**Divergent**_**! Nice job! **

**Disclaimer: Annabeth: Say it! **

**Me: Nope. **

**Annabeth: *grabs dagger* I swear to all the gods, if you don't say it- **

**Me: Fine! Rick Riordan owns all! **

Percy's POV

The moment the car was submerged in the brackish water Percy started to panic. A son of Poseidon, freaking out because he feared drowning. If Percy had been thinking straight, maybe he would have laughed at how _stupid _it all sounded- he'd used to love water. Ever since that one experience with the nymphs, the feeling of drowning seemed seared into his memory, and it terrified him. Alas, Percy was not thinking straight. He kicked blindly at the windshield, his mind fuzzy with fear.

The windshield caved under his kick and he swum out through the jagged hole, ignoring the scratches that he got on his arms and legs. Percy turned to the sunlight, relief flooding his mind. He started to swim forward and…

…was jerked to a stop by his shirt, which was caught on the edge of the broken windshield. He turned back and tried to pull his shirt hem free, but it was stuck tight. Panic started to cloud his mind again- he was running out of air and his lungs were starting to burn. He jerked at his shirt harshly now, not caring when it tore. His lungs were on fire, he had no air left. His body automatically inhaled a good lungful of water and… naturally he was fine.

Once he was breathing again, the fear started to recede. _I'm Percy Jackson, and now I'm afraid of water. Perfect, _he scoffed silently. A kicking form from his peripheral interrupted his thoughts. He turned back to the truck he had just escaped and saw Luke, still trapped. Percy looked for Annabeth, but didn't see her. He did, however, see that her door had been kicked open. Annabeth was a good swimmer- she would be fine. _She'll kill me for sure if I don't help Luke, though, _Percy thought wryly as he swam toward Luke. Yanking the door open, he pulled Luke to the surface. Once Luke's head reached the surface and he got some air, he began to swim on his own to the shore. Percy followed, looking around in confusion when he didn't see his girlfriend anywhere.

"Luke, where's Annabeth?" He asked, worry creeping into his voice. Luke's eyes widened in horror.

"You…you didn't…rescue…first?" He chocked out as he struggled to catch his breath. Percy didn't waste time replying, just turned and dove back into the water.

The murky water made it hard to see more than five feet in any direction, but Annabeth's golden hair was hard to miss. When he saw a flash of red sunlight filtering through the dirty water land on a sinking bit of blonde hair, Percy knew it was Annabeth. He swam toward Annabeth quickly, using sure, strong strokes to cut through the water.

When Percy reached his girlfriend, his heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. She was pale, and her eyes were closed. Her mouth, half open, revealed that she had run out of air. _Oh gods, no, _begged Percy silently as he quickly collected Annabeth in his arms and urged the water around them to push them to the surface.

They broke into open air and Percy pulled her onto dry land. Luke leapt to his feet when he saw her, looking worried. He ran over and felt for a pulse, looking relived when he found one.

"She'll be fine," he muttered. "You got to her just in time."

"I don't understand!" Percy said, running his hands through his hair. "Annabeth's a good swimmer. How could she almost drown?" At his inquiry, Luke looked away guiltily.

"This lake is kind of like quicksand- tries to prevent you from escaping. All the lakes in Tartarus are that way," he admitted.

"What?" Asked Percy, staring at Luke. "And you _drove us straight into one?! _Are you crazy?!" He cried, getting up and beginning to pace.

"I had no other choice," Luke growled, and Percy turned to see his eyes flash gold for a split second. _What the heck? _

Annabeth coughed and struggled to sit up suddenly, interrupting Percy's train of thought. He kneeled down next to her, helping her sit up. The first thing she did was cough up a ton of water.

"Ugh," she muttered, wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

"You ok?" Asked Percy, concerned.

"I'm fine," she reassured him. "Is Luke ok, too?"

"I'm all good," Luke said from behind her. _She's lost Luke once- it's only natural for her to worry about him. Besides, I'm a son of Poseidon, and he's not, _Percy reasoned, pushing away his uneasiness.

"Good," Annabeth continued, "'Cuz I'm going to kill you. Driving us into a _lake?_ In _Tartarus?_ Are you completely insane?!" 

"I know, I know," Luke snapped. "I already got that lecture from your boyfriend." Annabeth ignored him.

"Next we need another key, right? It can't be to far from here."

"Maybe the key would be a help?" Percy suggested. "I mean, it worked last time." Annabeth pulled out the key from her pocket and examined it, but then shrugged.

"It looks the same," she sighed. "Any other ideas?"

Luke and Percy both stared back at her, blank.

"Perfect," she muttered. "Ok, lets see. The key would be hidden at the hardest point to reach it, right?"

"Right…" Luke said, motioning for her to continue.

"So where would the key be best hidden in this landscape?" Annabeth finished, looking around her. The previously busy roads were now deserted, and the empty twisting highways stretched out in every direction as far as the eye could see. The only thing that broke the desolate view was…

"The lake," Annabeth said. "It's got to be at the bottom of the lake." Percy felt his stomach knot at the idea of diving back into the lake, especially because of the nature of lakes in Tartarus.

"I'll get it. It's safest for me, anyway." He heard himself say even as his mind screamed for him to shut up. Neither of his friends objected, though Annabeth had a worried expression on her face.

"Ok," she finally said. "But be careful." Percy nodded and then turned back to the lake, diving in.

**Short and kind of a filler chapter, sorry. :( I've been working on my chapter outline for some of my other stories, and this story got kind of temporarily pushed to the side. The next chapter will be longer, I promise. Reviewer's question: Favorite demigod and least favorite demigod? My favorite would probably be Percy or Annabeth (duh) and my least favorite is Octavian because he's just flat out annoying! Anyway, until next time! **


	18. Chapter 16

**Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, but I kinda feel like I've just butchered this story. You know that I-could-have-done-so-much-better-why-do-I-even-bot her-to-keep-writing-it feeling. However, I will be finishing this story because I don't want a half-finished fanfic on my laptop just haunting me. I will be wrapping up this story a bit earlier than I originally planned to, though, because I really am kinda mad at myself for not doing a better job with it. :( Second Announcement- the amazing ****PepsiCola541**** and I are now writing a story together called **_**Accidental Kings and Queens**_**, and the collab account is called ****Drinking in Qwerty,**** so all you Percabeth shippers, go check it out! :) Shout outs: **

**LaurenJackson23-**** No sneak peek, sadly :( I wish, though! **

**elenabear99- ****Aw, thank you. **

**Disclaimer: So, my parents finally told me the truth today. **

**Readers: *le gasp* You're adopted?! **

**Me: No…I meant that I don't own anything… **

**Readers: Oh, pft, we already knew that! **

**Me: Well, then! **

Octavian's POV

Octavian ran through the long hospital-like halls, grinning madly. Gaea would be very pleased with his report today. He burst into the mud room, not even pausing to knock.

"Octavian," mumbled a sleepy mud covered form in the dark corner. "I hope you have a good reason to come here uninvited."

"Very, mistress," Octavian told her confidently, pushing down a flicker of fear that had emerged at the dangerous edge in Gaea's voice. "The Camps are at war, finally. They'll be so busy destroying each other, they won't be able to stop us!"

"And?"

"And what?"

"Does anyone suspect that you are a traitor?"

"Oh, that," Octavian shifted. "No, mistress- well, the Jackson kid never seemed to trust me." He admitted.

"Percy Jackson?" Gaea purred, surprisingly calm. "Oh, don't worry about Percy Jackson. He's taken care of."

"Mistress?" Octavian gulped. Something about her tone was very unnerving.

"He's in Tartarus, boy, surely you've heard."

"Tartarus!" Octavian gasped. Sure, he'd always hated Percy. But Tartarus? That was a bit extreme- not that he would dare say such a thing to Gaea.

"It gets better," Gaea gloated. "The Titan boy, Luke Castellan, has collected the keys. He planned to use them to escape. But then Jackson and that girl joined him, and now he's so focused on helping them, it was easy to steal the keys he had. They're trapped there- forever. And if your mission was successful…" Gaea trailed off, but Octavian got the message.

"It was," He informed her, dropping the sack at her feet. It toppled over and locks spilled out. "We have all but three- I believe Jason and his quest has those already."

"Then they'll come here looking for the locks to rescue their friends, yes? And when they do…" Gaea laughed as she finished the thought. "We'll be ready and waiting."

"And Bianca?"

"We'll get her when the time comes, of course. She's doomed- the prophecy says so."

"Of course," Octavian agreed, his mind flashing back to the prophecy.

_14 items hidden deep in despair _

_A demigod scarred beyond repair _

_One resurrected will rise to the test _

_And prove she can beat the beat back all the rest _

_But such a power comes with a price _

_And despite all her power, she will die twice. _

No one knew more about the prophecy than him- 14 items hidden deep in despair? The keys and locks, which (for the most part) were now in Gaea's possession. A demigod scarred beyond repair- Octavian had always assumed it would be Nico di Angelo, but now he wondered if it could be Percy or Annabeth. And the rest of the prophecy was self-explanatory, for once. Bianca would come, and she would die. Nico would die with her.

And Gaea would rise once and for all.

It was perfect.

Too perfect- but Octavian would never point that out. Gaea knew what she was doing, and surely they'd interpreted the prophecy correctly- right?

What could possibly go wrong?

I know, it's WAY to short, and I'm sorry! But my family is leaving for vacation this afternoon, and I'm not packed yet. :/ I just wanted to update quickly because I don't know if there will be wifi where we're going. This chapter is a bit different, all about Gaea, but I wanted to remind you guys that there is a prophecy! Dooms day approaches! Reviewer's Question: What's your interpretation of the prophecy? I'm just curious. Until next time!


	19. Chapter 17

**Hey everybody. I'm back, and it's been waaayyyy too long, sorry 'bout that. :( As I mentioned last chapter, though, I've just totally lost my drive for this story. I'm going to finish it, though, don't worry. Shout outs: **

**LeoValdezIsMyTwin****- I think I'd die of shock if RR used some of my ideas! Good shock, of course. ;) Lovin' the username, btw. **

**LaurenJackson23****- Aw, thanks for the nice review. And thanks for keeping me on track! That review about waiting is really what made me update- I felt guilty about it… :( And as for the locks and keys thing, I don't even know where I got the idea. I was thinking about the doors of Death and how to close it. Then I thought if it's a door, it must have a lock, right? Eh, I guess it just kind of wrote itself from there! **

**MJ****- Aw, thank you. :) I'm glad you like it so much! **

**Oh, I have a little present for everyone who's still reading this crazy fanfic… VIRTUAL COOKIES! (::) (::) (::) (::) Thank you guys so loving this story even when **_**I, **_**the author, don't. **

**Disclaimer: RR will do a better job with his HoH, don't worry! **

Nico's POV

"Where have you _been_?" Piper cried the moment Leo stumbled in, looking like he'd seen a ghost.

"Into the future," he joked, but the circled under his eyes and his pale face seemed to kill the joke.

"Is that-" Jason began, noticing the sack Leo held in one hand.

"A lock?" Leo interrupted. "You bettcha! Can't let you guys have all the fun, now can we?"

"Where did you get it?" Frank asked, his eyes wide. "No offense, my friend, but you look like you've been to Hades and back." Nico automatically winced at the reference to Hades. Hey, it wasn't his fault his dad got stuck with the depressing job!

"Here," Leo said, tossing the sack in the middle of the ground between them all as if it were poisonous. Jason scooped up the sack, dumping the contents out onto the ground. Two things popped out- a small box, and the lock.

"What's this?" Asked Jason, nudging the box with his foot gingerly.

"_Hello," _came a British voice from the box. It reminded Nico of the woman's voice you heard at ATMs at the bank. _"What reward will you be withdrawing today?" _

"What?" Nico said at the same time as Jason said, "Huh?"

"_The fear factor. Who completed it?" _Said the voice slowly, as if it were talking to idiots. Nico felt completely confused, but Leo stepped forward after a moment, looking almost… was that fear in his eyes?

"I-I don't have to do _another _one, do I?" Leo asked in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe his bad luck.

_"No," _the voice said regretfully. _"You will instead be rewarded for completing the challenge." _

_This makes no sense, _Nico thought, but Leo seemed to understand.

"I can just ask for anything?"

"_Yes," _the box said, and then muttered something under its breath about "bloody daft demigods."

"Even a girlfriend?" Leo asked hopefully.

_"No living transactions,"_ the box informed him. Leo thought for a moment, and then his expression darkened.

"What's the catch?"

_"Pardon?" _

"What's the catch? The price?" Leo said. "You're just another fortune cookie." Nico blinked in shock, exchanging confused looks with the other demigods. Only Hazel seemed to catch his meaning, glancing down to the box with sudden distaste written across her face.

_"No, Mr. Valdez, I am not," _the box spat, apparently deeply offended by Leo's accusation. _"Nemesis's methods are quite different than mine. You did the simulation- your 'price' has been paid." _ Leo's face relaxed and he looked thoughtful again- Nico couldn't help but think that 'thoughtful' was a strange look to see on Leo face.

"_Anything _inanimate?" Leo asked carefully.

_"I've said that," _the box snapped. _"Do you want something or not?" _

"Yes!" Leo said quickly. "I want… I want the missing page to my guide."

"_Pardon? Which guide?" _the box asked.

"The missing page to my guide to operate the Archimedes sphere," Leo explained. _Oh yeah, that was the page Frank went to find that one time! _Nico remembered. It had barely been a week and a half ago, but it felt like years had passed.

_"Very well," _the box sighed, as if Leo were asking for something minor and useless. Then it began to shimmer and disappeared. In its place was a wrinkled page filled with tiny, messy Greek writing.

Nico had to agree with the box- at first glance, the page looked useless. Leo, however, scooped it up and marveled at it as if it were the most priceless gold.

"C'mon," Jason said after a moment. "Let's get back to the ship- we need to get the clue to the next lock."

-Line Break-

The group stared in muted horror at the page on the lounge table. Bianca had done her magic, but the result hadn't been pretty.

There were two clues on the slip of paper. The first one read:

_A deep-sea cave holds the lock; hold your breath against the clock. _

The sentence had a giant red "X" over it, however, and the sentence under it read:

_You're too late; the earth has the key, the price for retrieval a heavy fee. _

"Gaea has it," Hazel said softly after a moment.

"We have to get it!" Leo said immediately.

"The price for retrieval a heavy fee," Piper quoted. "If we go after it, something's guaranteed to go wrong."

"We need that lock to help Percy and Annabeth," Nico snapped. He couldn't believe they would consider _not _going after the lock, but took a deep breath to calm his temper. "We have to get it," he said firmly.

After a pause, Hazel chimed in.

"He's right," she admitted. "We can't leave Percy and Annabeth stranded, no matter what the cost is."

Across the room, the other demigods gave their agreement.

"But where would she keep the lock?" Jason asked, ever practical.

"The island," Frank said suddenly.

"What?"

"The island," Frank repeated. "When I was looking for Leo's missing guide page, I got stuck on an island. That's where Gaea's headquarters are."

"Are you sure?" Nico asked, leaning forward.

"Positive," he replied confidently.

"Well, then," Leo said. "I'll set course for Gaea's island. It's time to go kick some almighty earth butt!"

**This chapter was short and devoid of any action, sorry guys. :( But the big showdowns are coming! Yay! Just bear with me please! Reviewer's question: Favorite TV show? (It's completely random and off-topic, but I couldn't think of anything else.) Mine is Merlin. That show is pure awesomeness! Until next time! **


	20. Chapter 18

**Hey, guys :) We have maybe three or four chapters left (including this one) so you know what that means- big showdowns right around the corner! We're almost there! Shout outs: **

**percylover4ever****- Anything to make it a little different, right? ;) **

**LaurenJackson23****- Aw, I'm glad you like it so much! :) **

Disclaimer: I'M NOT A TROLL! THEREFORE I AM NOT UNCLE RICK! STOP TRYING TO HUNT ME DOWN!

Percy's POV

Entering the dark water the second time was easier, although not by much. The moment Percy was submerged, he forced himself to inhale water and drive the panic away.

_Tartarus may try to purposely drown it's victims, _he thought grimly. _But it's never seen a demigod of Poseidon before! Or, at least, hopefully it hasn't… _brushing the thoughts aside, Percy swam deeper, his eyes peeled for the tell-tale glimmer of the key.

It was hard to see anything. Not only was the water murky, but the bottom of the lake was hardly smooth. Bumps and ridges coated the cliffy underwater terrain.

Swimming deeper, Percy froze when he saw a skull resting on a muddy ledge next to him. The skull, which had three horns sticking out of it, wasn't human, but Percy still had to take a deep breath to calm his racing heart. Being underwater, yet still in danger, was a new feeling to Percy, and not one he particularly liked.

He continued swimming, only to freeze again when he felt moving water brush against him unnaturally fast. Spinning around, Percy examined the rocky terrain behind him, relaxing slightly when he saw that there was nothing behind him.

_Must just be my imagination… _Percy continued swimming, trying to push down his growing unease. Soon he'd reached the very bottom of the lake, but a quick glance showed that there was no key.

_I must have passed it. But where- _he lost his train of thought when he saw something shift out of the corner of his eye. Turning quickly, Percy examined the area where he could have sworn something moved. The rock looked as solid as anything else, but Percy wasn't about to be fooled. He knew what he'd seen. He wasn't alone.

"Who's there?" He called out uneasily, the water disorienting his voice and making it sound like static. There was no reply, and Percy felt a bit stupid- what had he expected? For the monster to appear and ask for an autograph?

Taking a closer look at the rock, Percy noticed something he hadn't noticed before- an imprint in the algae growing on the rock. An imprint in the shape of a key.

The key _had _been here, but someone had taken it already.

"Son of Poseidon,"hissed a female voice, carrying clearly despite being underwater.

"Who's there?" Percy repeated, his heart racing as he tried to locate the voice.

"My name is Akibe," the voice responded. "And you have no business here." Percy could only stare as what appeared to be a mermaid swam forward. She was pretty, in a horrible way.

Her skin was a deep emerald green that matched her eyes, and her black hair was woven with seaweed and shells. Her eyes and tail ruined the image, however- both were pure black. Her eyes didn't even have the whites around the irises- where the whites of her eyes should have been was the same dark color. What was really startling, though, was the horrible scars that crisscrossed her bare shoulder. They looked fresh.

"I do, actually," Percy managed, trying not to stare. "There was a key here," he pointed to the imprint. "I, uh, really need it."

"I'm sure," the mermaid said coolly. "However, as you can see, it's gone." She had a certain venom in the word _gone_, as if she took the loss personally.

"Did you know who took it?" Percy asked, beginning to feel unnerved by Akibe's unblinking stare.

"Do I?" Akibe laughed humorlessly at his question. "I should. After all, _he _is the one who robbed me. _He _is the one who gave me this," she said sourly, gesturing to her shoulder wound.

"And, uh, who is 'he'?" Percy asked hesitantly.

"You, of all people, should know," Akibe said. Percy just stared back, lost.

"I should?" He asked blankly.

"The Titan Lord, of course!" She screeched. "Kronos, lord of Time!"

"What?" Percy asked, aghast. "That's not possible. Kronos is gone!"

"Did you really think that?" She hissed. "When you've been _traveling with him this entire time?!_"

"Wha- you mean Luke? No. He's good now," Percy argued stubbornly.

"I never forget a face, Perseus Jackson."

"But…" Percy froze, a horrible thought crossing him mind. _Luke was obviously hiding something back at the cave. For some reason, he didn't want to come with us. What if Kronos never actually left Luke? _

"Too bad you won't live to question him," Akibe sneered. Percy barely had time to register the death threat before she was lunging toward his throat, fangs extended.

Annabeth's POV

"It shouldn't be taking this long!" Annabeth repeated, pacing the shore by the lake.

"He's Percy Jackson," Luke reasoned. "I'm sure he's fine." He didn't sound too sure to Annabeth.

"I'm going to go fid him," she finally decided.

"What? No! Bad idea!" Luke cried, jumping up. When he did, a golden key clattered to the ground. Annabeth felt her blood go cold at the sight of it.

"Luke…" she breathed. "What. Is. That?" Luke turned and saw the key, his face pale.

"What? But-" He broke off, and for a moment, almost seemed to argue with himself. "No! I wouldn't have! I had him under control! Annabeth, I swear I didn't!"

"Had _who _under control, Luke?" Annabeth growled, a dangerous edge to her voice. Luke's face went even whiter, if possible.

"Annabeth, I-"

"Who, Luke?" Annabeth yelled, her eyes stinging dangerously. "What haven't you told me?" Luke seemed to deflate before her. He hung his head, his hands shoved into his pockets.

"Kronos," he muttered, his voice barely over a whisper. Annabeth heard him anyway, though.

"What?" She gasped, stumbling back in shock.

"Nemesis didn't condemn me," Luke admitted, looking up. "The judges did. A small part of Kronos never actually left me."

"What?" Annabeth repeated, feeling like the world was suddenly spinning too fast.

"Annabeth-"

"No," Annabeth snapped with such ferocity Luke stopped in his tracks. "I _trusted _you, Luke! How could you not _tell _me? Percy was right. I _never _should have believed you!" She yelled, blinking back tears.

"But-"

"Just go, Luke," Annabeth said, turning away. "I'm going in after Percy. When we come out- don't be here. We can do this _without _you." Then she dove in, determined not to look back. The last thing she wanted was for Luke to see her tears.

-Line Break-

Finding Percy was the easy part. It was hard to miss a 16 year-old boy being attacked by a green mermaid. Percy had riptide out, swinging it deftly, but he was at a disadvantage. The water in Tartarus responded to the mermaid; Percy, however, had no control.

Annabeth was also in trouble. Unable to breath underwater, she only had so much time before she ran out of air. She could only watch in horror as the water dragged Riptide away from her boyfriend, leaving him weaponless.

The Mermaid bared her fangs, ready to finish the job, but suddenly froze. Her face twisted into dislike, then fear. Instead of injuring Percy, she roughly shoved him forward into… _into the mud_, Annabeth realized, a little to late, what she was doing. _She's giving him to Gaea. _

Annabeth quickly kicked forward, grabbing the mermaid's hair and yanking back as hard as she could. The murky water quickly wrapped around her in a vise-like grip, leeching the air away from her. Her lugs burned as the water itself shoved her toward the earth.

Then everything went black.

** Cliffy, I know! Showdowns start next chapter! :) Reviewer's question: Best disclaimer? Until next time! **


End file.
